A Book Full of Memories
by water blue panda
Summary: Zexion finds a new member for Organization XIII. They quickly become friends and go on many adventures. But during their time together, Zexion quickly finds out he might have feelings for her. Will their relationship deepen? Please R&R this first fanfic.
1. A New Member

Part 1

Everyone warped into the meeting room, just like they would on any other day. However, this wasn't like any other day.

"Any announcements for today's meeting?" The Superior asked. I wasn't surprised when Xigbar shot up his hand, because I was the one who had the announcement.

"Zexion has one!" he yelled. I sighed, making it apparent that I did have something to say.

"What is your announcement, Zexion?" Xemnas asked me.

"It seems I found another strong-willed nobody." I told him. The room was quiet for about ten seconds before Xemnas spoke again.

"Bring him here." Xemnas asked.

"Actually, it's a girl." I replied. When I brought her into the room, some of the members laughed. The ones who were laughing were Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Luxord, and Larxene. The rest stayed quiet. The nobody looked no older than Roxas, and she was just about as tall. She had blue eyes and straight long white hair. I couldn't see what was so funny.

"I don't think she'll last two weeks here!" Larxene said, trying to stifle her laughter.

"I bet you she won't even last two days!" Luxord laughed off.

"SILENCE!" Xemnas shouted. With that said, the room was quiet once again. "I see nothing wrong with our new member. We shall just see what develops." After that, I got stuck "babysitting" as Axel put it.

* * *

I showed her everything in the castle, Vexen's lab, Marluxia's greenhouse, Saїx's training room, and all of the other stuff. What I had noticed was that all throughout my "tour", she wouldn't say a word. She was just following me with an absent-minded look. It wasn't until we came to her room that she finally said something.

"Umm, thank you." She said, with a smile, but she was looking down. "Umm, in case you've been wondering, my name is Xunakiy." When she was about to close the door, I suddenly remembered something. It was something I thought I would never say.

"I forgot to show you something!" I said as I stopped her door. "We have a library, if you want, you can come with me to read some books."

"I'd love to." She replied, with a friendly smile. I was really surprised she wanted to see my library. When I tried to invite the other members, they all turned me down.

* * *

"Here we are." I declared. She looked around and started twirling around the room.

"This is the largest library I've ever seen! And you're the only one who comes here?" She looked really happy when she said that but she suddenly hit her head on a ladder and fell to the floor. I didn't know anyone could be that clumsy.

While I sat on the nearest chair and pondered my thoughts, Xunakiy quickly got up and stacked books on the table where I was.

"Would you mind if we read these?" She asked me.

"Sure, why not?" The books all had dust on them, as if no one had touched them in decades. All of the books were of different topics but it seemed they revolved around a certain world. Xunakiy explained that the world that they all had reference to was her home world. They were actually pretty interesting. We were reading so much that when I finally checked what time it was, it read 11:15. Xunakiy's reaction was very funny…

"AAAAHHHHHH!! I MADE YOU STAY UP! IF YOU FAIL A MISSION BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T GET ENOUGH SLEEP, YOU'LL GET IN TROUBLE WITH YOUR LEADER AND I'LL HAVE RUINED YOUR LIFE!!" Xunakiy was screaming and waving her arms around frantically. It wasn't until she tripped over a chair that she stopped.

"Are you alright?" I tried asking. But instead she got up, bowed, and ran to her room. I supposed that if it was this late, Xunakiy must've gone to sleep. And I realized that I should get some sleep too.

* * *

The next morning, I was woken up in a weird way. The first thing I heard was Xunakiy's voice yelling for me to get out of bed.

"O, Zexion! Time to get up!"

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll make you!"

"How!?"

The next thing I know, my pillow is slipped out from underneath me and I'm being hit many times. Also, I start to see feathers flying.

"CUT IT OUT! I'M UP ALREADY!"

"Nice pajamas."

"Get out of here!"

"Okay!"

* * *

Xunakiy explained that Xemnas wanted me to take Xunakiy to Saїx's training room so I could teach her how to fight. Sure enough, Saїx was waiting for us.

"So, when do I get my weapon?"

"You will get your weapon when you need it. I'll be on top of that balcony, observing your battle." With that said, he warped to the balcony. "You may begin."

I was surprised Xunakiy attacked first, but not with a weapon. She attacked with martial arts. She started running at me and tried to hit me with a kick from the side. Before she could hit me, I held her ankle as it was about to hit my face. But then she twisted in the air, and hit me with her other leg. I was amazed at how well she could fight without a weapon, but I wasn't the only one. When I looked at Saїx, he wore an astonished look on his face. _I_ was the one who was supposed to attack _her_, not the other way around.

I wasn't going to let her get the best of me, so I got my book out, and sent a few pages after her. Once again, she amazed me. She jumped elegantly, making a few twists in the air, as if she was a ballet dancer. Her actions reminded me of Marluxia-graceful, but deadly.

I had to land a hit on her, even if this was a practice battle. I was going to use one of my better attacks: a whirlwind of pages.

"There is no way you can dodge _this_!" I yelled. I felt pretty bad when I saw it coming at her. She was practically frozen with fear.

"HOLY CRAP!" Xunakiy was yelling as the flurry of papers was hitting her.

"Number VI! You shouldn't have gone that far!" I heard Saїx yelling. I think he wanted to say more, but he was cut off as my whirlwind dissipated, leaving behind Xunakiy and her new weapon. But I wondered why her weapon was a bullhorn attached with a built-in microphone.

"Wow! I finally got my weapon!" Xunakiy was obviously okay with her weapon. "I wonder what it does though." She spoke into it, and for some reason, music notes flew out of nowhere to attack me. The notes were as fast as Xigbar's bullets.

I was about to counterattack, but Saїx warped behind me and nearly bent back my arm. "That's enough out of you. The Superior wouldn't want you to kill our new member on her second day." Then he let me go. "This battle session is over. Number VI, you are going to stay in your room for the rest of the day."

"I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Zexion." I heard Xunakiy call out behind me. I just ran to my room. I didn't want to walk, in case Xigbar was waiting for an opportunity to tease me, and because the castle was so big, and I didn't feel like pondering my thoughts like I usually do.

* * *

I sat in my room for half an hour, until Xunakiy walked in with two trays of food.

"Are you okay? I brought you some food."

"I'm okay."

"Does the Organization always order takeout?"

"We have to because most of the Organization uses our kitchen as one big trash can."

"They do? We should clean it up! How about tomorrow morning?"

"Tomorrow?"

"You're grounded. Remember?"

"Let's just do it when everyone else is asleep."

"Um, okay."

"So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Let's just wander the castle to not get lethargic."

"…"

"Something wrong?"

"What does lethargic mean?"

"In general, lazy, tired, etc."

"Oh, okay! But aren't you grounded?"

"As long as Saїx doesn't see us, we're okay."

"Okie dokie artichokey!"

"Artichokey?"

* * *

We started walking and nothing interesting happened, until we bumped into Demyx.

"You're the new kid right?"

"Yup!"

"What's your name?"

"Xunakiy!"

"My name is Demyx."

"Demyx sounds like a cool name!"

"You really think so?!"

"Of course!"

Demyx and Xunakiy were getting off better than I thought. But Demyx got a little out of hand later when he pulled out his sitar.

"Wanna see something cool?"

"Sure."

"Dance, Water, Dance!"

Demyx summoned his water clones and they started dancing around us. Everything was going alright, until Demyx accidentally played the wrong string, and one of the clones attacked Xunakiy. She was flailing around so much that she broke one of Demyx's sitar strings and started a flood in the hall. Axel and Roxas were in the vicinity, so they got drenched too. They kept yelling about their hair getting messed up and how much Axel was going to hurt Demyx when this was all over. Eventually the water pushed us all the way back to my room.

"I'm so gonna kill you Demyx!!" I heard Axel yell.

"Umm…maybe we can just go back to our rooms and not start a war in the hallways." Xunakiy suggested.

Everyone left without a word, but then again so did she. So that left me alone. After ten minutes, I got bored and just went back to my room to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, there was actually a blizzard, but the snow being blown in from my window wasn't what woke me up. It was actually Axel arguing with Vexen.

"Make the damn blizzard stop, you old man! You know how much I hate the cold!"

"Stop calling me old man! And I'm not the one who's doing this!"

"Liar!"

"I am not!"

Saïx, not being any friend of Axel's, convinced him that Vexen wasn't the cause of the blizzard. He refused to listen, at first, and proceeded to try ad burn Vexen, but Saïx hit him hard with his claymore. Axel was knocked out after the blow to the head. He probably had a concussion, or something like that.

"G'morning everyone!" It was none other than Xunakiy, holding trays carrying numbered mugs. "I made hot chocolate for everyone! C'mon, take one!"

She was urging everyone there to take their mug and drink what was in it. Vexen reluctantly took his mug, and took a small sip. The same reaction came from Saïx. But, both of them apparently liked it, seeing as they did bottoms-up with their mugs.

"So you like it?" Xunakiy asked nervously.

"I love it!" Vexen shouted.

"Yay! Oh, I almost forgot!" Xunakiy handed me my numbered mug.

Seeing as even Vexen and Saïx liked it, I drank it…but I forgot to blow on it.

"HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS HOT!!" I yelled.

I wasn't surprised when I heard Vexen laugh, and I wanted to trap him in my book, but my tongue was still burning painfully from the hot chocolate.

"Are you okay!? I didn't make it too hot did I!?" Xunakiy was asking me, while frantically running around me in circles. This made Vexen laugh even harder until he was rolling aroung on the floor laughing his butt off until he was coughing and clutching his stomach out of pain. This made Saix give off a smirk, but he didn't laugh, he never does.

"Okay, seeing as you two emptied out your mugs I'll be going to the kitchen with them and filling them up again." Xunakiy said cheerfully. Which reminded me that I forgot to help her clean up the kitchen.

Saix and Vexen, still on the floor, looked puzzled. Vexen stood up and started walking in the direction of what used to be a trash heap. I think he was going to see what Xunakiy did to improve the kitchen, but someone else beat him to it. This was evident as we heard someone yelling from the same direction.

"WHO CLEANED UP MONTHS OF DECAY IN ONLY ONE DAY!?"

We all realized that that was Larxene yelling. And so, everyone, not only Me, Vexen and Saix, but everyone in the castle rushed to the kitchen. Everyone's jaw dropped. It was what everyone, except me, called "squeaky clean". It was exactly how it was before everyone used it as a trash can, with a bonus rice cooker.

"Surprised with what I did?" Xunakiy was saying behind us.

"The newbie cleaned it up!?" Larxene said with a confused face.

"The 'newbie' has a name." I protested.

"And it's Xunakiy!" Xunakiy said with glee. "Everyone! Grab your mugs!"

Everyone just stayed where they were, so Xunakiy wlked over and handed everyone their hot chocolate. Not surprisingly, everyone liked it.

* * *

When the castle started getting very cold as a result of the blizzard, Xemnas chose me and Xunakiy to investigate it. Xemnas said he chose us because the rest of the Organization, except Vexen, was coming down with a cold.

"Would this be my first mission, Zexion?"

"You can say that."

"What was your first mission like?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't remember."

"Why?"

"Maybe it's because I've been in the Organization for so long. It's funy how I usually ponder my thoughts in my spare time but still don't remember anything like that."

"So, where do we find the cause of this blizzard?"

"I don't know. Besides that's the reason why Xemnas sent us on a mission."

I thought we didn't have to look so much seeing as _The World that Never Was_, only consisted of the castle and the city next to it. But, seeing as the icy wind was hard to see through, it seemed as if we were walking in circles.

"How long have we been walking, Zexion?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think we'll ever find the source of the blizzard?"

"I don't know."

"Well, let's just stay positive!"

The way Xunakiy said made me feel…warm, inside. Hopefully I wasn't blushing at the time.

Fortunately, we didn't have to look far for the source of the blizzard. When we came to Memory's Skyscraper, we found it. An obese blue heartless with a rod of ice. Unfortunately, it had dozens of Blue Rhapsodies and Icy Cubes surrounding it and ready to attack.

"That thing, is a heartless, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it looks easy to beat!"

"Most of the heartless do, but usually they're not."

"Oh. Time for my debut!"

"What?"

"After cleaning up the kitchen this morning, I practiced with my microphone!"

With those words, we both took out our weapons: my lexicon, and her microphone. Almost immediately, the heartless attacked us. It was hard to move what with the snow being knee-high. It was a good thing we were both long-range attackers. And since Xunakiy had to speak into her microphone for it to work, she had to constantly yell out things.

"Take that! And that! Hey! Stop dodging!"

"Xunakiy, seeing as you still need to work on your fighting, I'll go ahead and handle the big one."

"Okay! AAAHHH! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

I took a big leap over all the smaller heartless and headed for the "boss".

"Okay, time to finish thi—what the!?"

Several Blue Rhapsodies had frozen my legs, my torso, and my left arm. The only parts of my body that were free were my head and my right arm where I was holding my book.

"Great, I'm a human popsicle. Now I know what Axel feels like."

"Zexion! Get away from him you creeps!"

Luckily, Xunakiy was there, and she blasted all of them away from me. She hurried to my side and tried to unfreeze me by yelling out tongue-twisters.

"A tutor who tooted a fruit tried to tutor two doodoos to toot! Okay, that didn't work. Um, oh yeah! How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood! Crap! That one didn't work!"

"Would you be able to finish this one by yourself?"

"I'll try."

For some reason, I was getting tired, maybe the cold was finally getting to me. I kept urging to myself to wake up while I was trying to keep an eye on Xunakiy. But, after a few minutes, I blacked out.

* * *

I woke up, lying on my bed. But, I didn't expect to find Xunakiy in my room with me.

"Good afternoon, Zexion!"

"Xunakiy?"

"The one and only!"

"How did you defeat all of the heartless?"

"Oh! I transfromed my microphone into a mike-stand, and then my music notes increased in strength ten-fold! So it was easy as pie to defeat all of them! Unfortunately, I must've fallen asleep due to all the power it took to actually just transform the thing."

"I suck."

"Eh!?"

"I let you down on your first mission, and I left you to fend for yourself. Face it, I suck."

"No you don't!"

"Huh?"

"Everyone has their bad days! Today was one, but it'll get better from here on out! At least until today ends."

Xunakiy had a warm smile that almost made me forget I had a fever. Wait—a fever?

"Unnh."

"Zexion, are you feeling alright?"

"I don't think so."

"Are you burning up?" With those words, Xunakiy held her hand to my forehead. Her face was so close to mine that I was blushing. But I shouldn't blush, right?

"Oh my gosh! You are burning! You need warm milk with honey!"

"Warm milk with honey?"

"It can help you feel as good as new! But you need to wait at least half an hour, because I need to fix some for everybody else first. So you need to rest during the meantime, okay?"

"Sure."

And Xunakiy walked out of the room. It took ten minutes, but I fell asleep…only to be woken up later by Axel and Xunakiy's yelling. And from the sound of things, Xunakiy was chasing Axel.

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME DRINK THAT!"

"YOU'LL DRINK IT AND YOU'LL LIKE IT!"

"NO FLIPPIN' WAY!"

The sound of running stopped shortly after.

"There is no way you are making me drink that."

"Shut up and eat it."

"…"

"DID YOU HEAR ME!? I SAID 'DRINK IT' DAMN YOU!"

"Hell no!"

Then it was silent for about five minutes, then the process repeated with Xigbar. Another five minutes later, she came into my room with a steaming mug.

"Sorry for the delay. I had to force this down their mouths, since they weren't going to drink it willingly."

"Does it taste good?"

"Of course it does!"

"Did you tell Axel and Xigbar that?"

"Eh heh heh heh. No."

"No wonder they were yelling."

"Enough about that, you drink yours!"

"Um, okay."

I took a sip, and thank god it was warm, instead of hot like earlier today. It actually did taste better than I expected. And my head was clearing up.

"So, how do you feel?"

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm feeling better already."

I think that was one of the first times I ever smiled.


	2. Preparing

Part 2

Xemnas said that we should take a few days off, seeing as the snow wouldn't melt that fast. Things were going a little smoothly, at first…

"Okay, I've seen the members, but I don't know some of their names or their personalities."

"They'll all appear to you eventually. _Hopefully the more annoying ones don't show._"

"Were you saying something?"

"Oh, nothing."

* * *

"…and that's how you not get on Xemnas' nerves." I concluded

"I didn't know there were so many things that could tick him off." Xunakiy said while fidgeting. "Umm…anyone else I should know about?"

"PLEASE don't ask tha—"

"Ahahaha!" Someone shouted.

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!! Who's there?!" Xunakiy said, shivering in her boots.

"Hell no! _He's _here!" I really didn't like _him_.

"You are quite poor in recognizing people of high stature!" _He_ continued.

Suddenly, there was a storm of petals in the hallway.

"THIS IS SCARY!!"

"Fear not my lost little lamb! For it is I, the youthful, beautiful, and graceful…"

The petal hurricane receded, only to leave behind _him_.

"…Marluxia!"

"So you're another member!?" Xunakiy asked happily, apparently free of her fears.

"Why of course, my young child! What is your name?"

"I'm Xunakiy!"

"Xunakiy…"

"Eh?"

"What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl! Say, you look like a girl who appreciates some of the finer things in life!"

"You could say that."

"Well…" Marluxia took Xunakiy's wrist. "You absolutely MUST take a look at my garden!"

"Everyone else didn't like your garden, why would she like i—"

"I'd love to!"

"All right then, goodbye Zexion!"

"Wait!" But I was too late. Marluxia had already dragged Xunakiy off. I was about to walk off, but Xunakiy came running back and held my hand. Once again, I blushed.

"I'd like if you came along, Zexion!"

"Okay, umm, sure."

She dragged me to Marluxia's greenhouse. Despite the fact that I showed Xunakiy the entire castle, I had never seen the inside of the greenhouse before. I felt kind of embarrassed.

"Here we are!"

"Wow."

"I know!"

It looked better than I expected. It had every kind of flower you could imagine. There were roses, daisies, violets, forget-me-nots, and a whole lot more. It was like a sea of colors all in one place.

I kept staring for some time, until Marluxia laid his hand on my shoulder.

"Judging by your silence, I take it you like my greenhouse!"

"Well, sort of."

"I had a feeling you'd like it here!" Xunakiy's voice called out from the other side of the plants. She popped out from a patch of tall sunflowers and started hugging me. Again, I blushed.

"You like Marly's flowers! I'm so happy!"

"Why, Zexion, you're blushing!"

"No I'm not! I-i-it's just the fever I had yesterday! Yeah!"

"But, Zexion-kun, didn't you say you were feeling better when I gave you the warm milk and honey?"

"Oooooh! Zexion's blushing! AND he's telling lies!"

"Shut up!"

"I didn't know I was getting on your nerves, Zexion-kun…"

"I wasn't referring to y—"

"You're a bad person, Zexion! To trample on her spirits like that, tsk tsk."

"You know what never mind!"

We all stood quiet for about five seconds before Xunakiy started tugging on my arm.

"Zexion-kun, we need to meet all the others! Oh, and Marluxia-chan, thanks for letting us take a look at your flowers!"

"No problem, darling!"

And Xunakiy pulled me out of the room. We walked for about five minutes before Xunakiy started talking again.

" So you really liked the greenhouse?"

"Of course I did."

"Oh, okay then."

"Why did you say –kun after my name and –chan after Marluxia's?"

"Heh. Old habits are starting to come back."

"What old habits?"

"You see, in my home world, it was common to add 'kun' or 'chan' at the end of people's names."

"Oh."

"There are actually other suffixes too. There's "dono", "sama", "sensei", "shishou"…Well, it's either those are the rest, or there are more.

"Okay then."

"Aww. Isn't that cute: a bookworm and the newbie are havin' a date!" Someone called out from above.

"Can it, Larxene."

We were in the Hall of Empty Melodies, and Larxene was on one of the balconies. She quickly jumped down right in front of us.

"Hello!"

"Shut up newbie!"

"Don't be rude, Larxene"

"You're in no position to talk!" She was as quick as a whip when she pointed her knives at my neck. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna teach the what's-her-face some lessons in MY book!"

"If you touch her—"

"You'll what?"

In response, I took my book out. I was about to launch an attack at her, but Xunakiy intervened by getting in the middle of Larxene and me.

"Please don't fight!" Xunakiy yelled. "If you're both teammates, then you wouldn't fight like this!"

Larxene then lowered her knives.

"Tch. Leave it to a newbie to have the guts."

I was expecting Larxene to lower down her weapons, but instead she readied a lightning bolt.

"Unfortunately, I hate people with guts. You gonna run?"

Xunakiy should've just run and left us to fight, but instead, she just shook her head.

"Oh well."

I closed my eyes so I wouldn't see the pain inflicted on her, and then I heard the lightning crash. Xunakiy was done for sure. Instead, when I opened my eyes, Xunakiy was still standing and smoke was rising up from a different spot in the hall. Apparently, Larxene had intentionally missed.

Larxene withdrew her knives and walked over to Xunakiy. I was thinking that she was going to hand-to-hand combat, but Larxene just put her hand on Xunakiy's head.

"You're one of the only people to stand up to me. You've got 'stuff'."

"Thank you!"

"I think we get along quite nicely."

"I think so too."

"Well, I gotta do my 'errand', so you guys have fun on your date!"

"It's not a date!" I objected.

"Whatever bookworm!" Larxene called as she was walking out.

"I think she's interesting."

"To me, she isn't. She nearly fried me on her first day here."

"You don't get along very well?"

"We're not on good terms, but we're not on bad ones either. Before you came, she was the only other member coming to the library."

"Oh. Let's keep moving shall we!"

* * *

Ever the optimist, she was skipping while I was just walking. But, I noticed that she was skipping with her eyes closed. I was shuddering at what might happen if she somehow bumped into Saïx, or even Xemnas for that matter. I looked down while thinking, but apparently, we bumped into someone worse than Saïx and Xemnas. It was Xigbar.

"Yo! Wassup Zexy!"

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!" After her usual startled response, this time, she broke out into a run.

"Look at what you did, Xigbar! Xunakiy, wait!"

I was surprised at how far she could run in only a couple of seconds. She kept running in a straight line, and didn't stop to make turns. So, after tiring out, I thought I just needed to warp right in front of her.

I just had to wait for her to pass and I would catch her by the hood. She was coming, and I needed a couple more seconds. Suddenly, she tripped and we bumped into each other in a way that was unexpected: a kiss.

We fell on the floor and we were blushing like mad. We quickly got up and sat on the floor, and we were still blushing. Unfortunately, Xigbar was actually on the ceiling, the entire time.

"You guys kissed!"

"It was just an accident!"

"But you guys still kissed!"

"If you tell anyone…"

"Don't worry. I'll only tell…the entire Organization! Hahahaha—"

I looked behind Xigbar to see what caused him to stop laughing. It was actually…Xunakiy. She was pinching a space between Xigbar's shoulder and neck. And she also had red eyes instead of her deep blue ones.

"Ouch ouch ouch!"

"If you tell anyone, Zexion-kun will be embarrassed and I'll have to kill you…"

"Okay! Okay! I won't tell anyone!"

And with those words, Xunakiy released her grip.

"Geez! What's your problem!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

And Xigbar ran away.

"That wasn't necessary, Xunakiy."

"Eh? Wha-?"

"Are you…actually confused about what just happened?"

"What happened? I mean-besides the whole 'kiss' thing."

"You were pinching the space between Xigbar's neck and shoulder. And you had a murderous look in your eyes."

"Oh…"

"What's wrong?"

"Ooohh! _She_ came out again!"

"Who's _she_?"

"Well, there's another side to my personality. _She_ is actually a lot more violent than me. All _she_ wants to do is cause pain to people that are near her. _She_ will even kill people to do so. _She_ only makes exeptions to a small number of people."

"Well, '_she_' was acting defensively over me."

"So, you're one of those people that _she_ makes an exception to."

"Oh, okay."

"Okay, well, enough chit chat. We need to move on!"

"If you say so."

* * *

Xunakiy seemed happy, but she wasn't skipping. There was something on her mind, and I think it was _her_. Coincidently, I was pondering the same thing. Maybe _she_ was the one that finished off the heartless two days ago on her first mission. I would like to say more, but Xunakiy just screamed out something.

"VALENTINES DAY!"

"WHA-I mean, what's Valentines Day?"

"It's a very special day and it's in a week!"

"So why are you getting worked up?"

"Because, I need to make chocolates!"

"Chocolates?"

"We need to go to a store and buy ingredients!"

"Eh?"

Xunakiy started dragging me by my arm and took me outside.

"Let's go to my home world!"

"What's your home world?"

"We'll only be there to get a few things, so it's of trivial importance."

"Umm…okay."

She opened up a portal, which I didn't think she'd be able to do so early in her nobody-hood. We went inside and cam out to a quiet world. Not many people were out, but it was probably because it was nighttime. The world was filled with a bunch of tall buildings right next to small ones. There were a lot of bright lights around and there was also wide roads made of stone. It was very different than Hollow Bastion.

We were walking around until Xunakiy tugged at my sleeve. She was pointing at a small store. We went inside, but the shopkeeper was asleep.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"Of course!"

"But the shopkeeper's sleeping."

"Oh, he always sleeps. And that's how I usually get stuff from here!"

"So, you steal things."

"It sounds bad, but it's the only way I used to get stuff."

We poked around, even knocked over some things, but the man was still asleep at the register.

"Okay, does the Organization like nuts in their chocolate?"

"I not so sure."

"Okay, I'll just stick with milk chocolate."

She took about a dozen bags of chocolate mix and we went outside. I was going to open up another portal, but she just started dragging me somewhere.

"Come on, I'll show you my favorite part of this place!"

"Umm…sure?"

"Let's go then!"

Xunakiy and I were running past the large city and she took me to a big, long tunnel.

"It's not so big. It's just the bad lighting." Xunakiy was telling me. "When we get to the other side, you'll see something really cool!"

We were walking, and walking, and walking, unti lwe came out of the other end. And it really was "cool". We were at a high cliff, overlooking the entire city, and all of it's glowing lights. We also had a great view of the moon, which seemed to rival Kingdom Hearts back home.

"It's…amazing."

"I know!"

"This cliff isn't exactly stable, chance are, it'll collapse sometime soon. But, I still go here anyway."

"Anyone else know about this?"

"My old friends, but I had a feeling that they don't come here anymore."

"I see. So, what's 'Valentines Day'?"

"It's a day when people give chocolates to people they care about. And most of the time, the chocolate is homemade. Also, some people even make a very special chocolate for that special someone who's going to be their Valentine."

"I don't think this holiday will work out with the rest of the Organization."

"Why?"

"Because, Larxene is the only other female in the Organization."

"Oh, family members can give each other chocolates too!"

"We aren't a family."

"But, you guys all seem like it."

"In what way?"

"Well, let's see…oh, you guys fight with each other!"

"How does that make us a family?"

"All family members fight with each other from time to time, or even all the time!"

"Now that you think about it…"

"Well, time to get going!"

"But—it's only been five minutes!"

"We need to get home and make those chocolates!"

"But, it's getting sort of late."

"Oh, okay."

We got home, everyone else being asleep. Xunakiy was about to get into one of her screaming fits, but I just covered her mouth with one of my hands. Good thing I was wearing gloves. We said goodnight to each other and we both went off to our rooms.

* * *

That night I had a short, but strange dream.

I was at the cliff, with the city lights all aglow, with the moon still shining. I was beginning to like the dream, at first. I realized that someone was sitting next to me, and it was Xunakiy.

"So, Valentines Day is coming up. Who's going to be your Valentine?"

I was about to reply that it was going to be her, but…

"Zexion-chan isn't going to choose you!"

I looked behind and standing there was…another Xunakiy. Most likely, it was _she_.

"You're going to choose me, right Zexion-chan? Besides, I'm the one that saved you from freezing to death!"

"Well, at least I don't kill people on sight! You're going to choose me right?"

"Zexion-chan, don't choose her!"

"Zexion-kun!"

"Zexion-chan!"

Both of them were arguing over which one I would choose, and their constant screaming was splitting my head in two.

"WHY CAN'T YOU TWO SHUT UP!?" I yelled out.

* * *

I woke up in my bed, startled at what supposedly happened. When I heard a knock on my door, I heard Xunakiy's voice also.

"Zexion-kun, may I come in?"

"Sure."

"You overslept."

"I did?"

I took a quick look at the clock and it was 11:00.

"HOLY CRA—Wait. Don't we still have a few more days off?"

"Yeah."

"THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU WAKE ME UP!"

"It's bad too sleep too much while you still have the day ahead of you."

"Alright already."

"Hey, you might wanna take off your boots."

"Why?"

"Because I just waxed the floors of every hall last night!"

"You really like doing these kind of things don't you?"

"Somewhat."

I took off my boots, leaving socks behind. I never realized the boots weighed so much. Because when I stood up again, my body felt lighter. I wanted to take a step outside but…

"G'morning sleeping beauty!" Demyx said as he slid past me. Wait—slid?

Turns out, Xunakiy waxed the halls so much that we would slide whenever we moved. I just wanted to stay back in my room and watch everyone else. Vexen liked sliding in the fact that he looked like he was ice-skating. Marluxia liked it also. Axel was downright annoyed with Demyx's playful movements. Larxene was chasing Roxas and she used sliding to her advantage.

Then I spotted Xigbar, who sucked at sliding and always falling down. Then Vexen pushed him hard, which made him slide into Axel and Demyx, and all three crashed into the wall. It caused me to break out in laughter.

"Zexion-kun! You're laughing!" I heard Xunakiy state.

"That's the first time you've laughed in front of us!" Marluxia said in astonishment.

"You—HAHA—shut—HAHA—up! HAHAHA!" I said, unsuccessfully stifling my laughter.

"This is your first time laughing with others around you?" Xunakiy asked.

"Ye—KOFF—yeah." Apparently, I was laughing so much, I forgot to breathe.

Everyone else erupted in laughter.

"Zexion-kun, daijobu—I mean, are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"So, you gonna help me make some chocolates?"

"Sure."

* * *

We walked, I mean, slid over to the kitchen and got all the chocolate mix, some bowls, and a few other things. Things got a little messy, and I mean messy. It took a whole lot of time, mostly because Xunakiy knocked over a bowl, and became frantic, and knocked over most of the other bowls. Which caused us to start over. Eventually, we got done making the chocolate.

"Now all we need to do is pour the chocolate into the molds."

"Okay."

"I'll use these for all of them." And she held up a star-shaped mold. "But I'll use this one for just one." And then she held up a heart-shaped one.

"That heart shape…is that one for your Valentine?"

"You'll see." She said with a playful tone.

"Let's finish this up."

"Okay!"

We went ahead and poured the chocolates into the molds, and she put them in a fridge.

"Okay, seeing as your fridge is kinda old, the chocolates would probably solidify by the day before Valentine's."

"Okay."

"Hey!" I heard someone shout. "What are you guys doing?"

"Xaldin, we're just cooking."

"You're Xaldin-san?! Nice to meet you!"

"Yeah yeah."

"Be nice to her."

"Oh, you're the kid who saved little Zexy from the heartless a couple days ago, right?"

"I didn't exactly—"

Before she could finish, Xaldin went over and gave her a handshake.

"You're modest, I like that! I bet we can get along nicely."

"To me, that's not much of a surprise. Heh."

"And you should be proud of that! Oh, sadly, I'm needed elsewhere. See you later!"

And Xaldin warped out.

"That was quite short, and interesting."

"Well, Xaldin's kind of strange. He seems mean to some people, but he acts differently to others."

"'Different' as in nice?"

"You can say that."

"Oh well, time to put these in the fridge."

We put the chocolates in the fridge and we spent the rest of the day without worry. At least, I think Xunakiy didn't. Because I still had my mind on that strange dream I had last night…


	3. Valentine's Day

Part 3

Today is the day before Valentine's Day and this time I'm not going to start off with Xunakiy waking me up. Instead, I'll just start off with phase one of Operation: Valentine (I'm not very creative with these kinds of things). I wanted to make Xunakiy a special Valentine's Day gift.

Okay so phase one of this operation is to take roses from Marluxia's greenhouse. Unfortunately, no one has been able to take ANY flowers from Marluxia, not even Axel. But that fact is what made it sound like fun.

"Everyone in position?" I asked as I spoke into the headset.

"We're all set." Vexen replied.

"This is so cool! This is like one of those spy movies!"

"Shut up Demyx!"

"Okay, we all remember the plan?"

"You bet."

"Umm…not exa—"

"Okay! Phase one starts…now!"

I had a feeling this was going to be a disaster. Demyx forgot his part in the operation and he was supposed to distract Marluxia while Vexen and I tried to swipe the flowers. Vexen and I accidentally went at the wrong time, so we ended up getting caught.

"What are you two doing with my roses?" Marluxia said with a calm-sounding but not friendly-sounding voice.

I had to think fast! It was only mere seconds into phase one and we're going to fail this thing. I had to say something!

"We were going to use them to err…pull a prank on Axel!"

"In that case…"

We were in for it. At least I _thought_ we were.

"…Go right ahead and use them!"

* * *

We were safe, for the moment. Marluxia let all three of us go. We got the bouquet ready and phase one was complete. Now it was time for phase two. And phase two was getting a stuffed animal from Larxene's room. I know having a collection of stuffed animals isn't what you'd expect from a _Savage _Nymph, but just used them for target practice instead of displaying them somewhere and letting them collect dust.

"Okay, Larxene's killing off a few of her stuffed animals right now, but she's going to come back at any minute. So we have to make this fast."

"Copy that, bookworm."

"I'm not a bookworm, science freak!"

"Ooh! Is this the part when we give each other codenames!? I want to be…umm…let's see…"

"I know. How about bubble-boy!"

"That's mean, Vexen!"

"FOCUS YOU TWO!" And that made the headset make that high-pitched sound that usually kills your ears.

"That hurt, bookworm."

"I'm…not…a…bookworm. Now let's just get this over with."

"What are you three doing outside my room?"

Holy crap! Another part of the operation gone wrong! And this time ALL of us didn't time it right. As usual I had to think up something.

"We are…umm…going to help you get rid of the stuffed animals stuck in your room? Yeah! That's it!"

"…Alright! Thanks! Okay, you can take these." And she handed us all of these plushies. Twelve to be exact—four plushies for each of us. And Larxene took another set out of her room.

After Larxene left, Vexen let out a sigh of relief.

"Nice one, bookworm."

"Shut up or I kill you."

"Then what's your codename then?"

"Enough with the codenames!"

* * *

We decided to just destroy all those plush except one of them. It was a small pink rabbit that was huggable and not one of those plushies that are as hard as a brick. Time for phase three: getting one of the already-wrapped chocolates out of the kitchen without Xunakiy noticing.

Xunakiy was actually cooking today's lunch and we had to sneak past her without noticing us. "Us" as in Vexen and me because Demyx didn't want to be in on it anymore. So, Xunakiy was chopping vegetables and stirring a pot full of who-knows-what.

" Okay, Vexen, on three, we go okay?"

"Okay."

"One…two…three! Wai—I said 'three' already!"

"Is it 'one, two, three', or 'one, two, three, go'?"

Once again, we got the timing wrong, and we made a racket and knocked over something into the pot. Xunakiy didn't notice that though.

"Zexion-kun, Vexen-sensei? What are you two doing here?"

"We're just, you know, hanging around."

"Oh okay. Hey, Zexion-kun?"

"Yeah." I suddenly noticed that Vexen slipped off somewhere.

"I'm making a special lunch for the both of us! It's a bowl of noodles! Want to join me?"

"I'd love to." I guess I could put off the "Operation: Valentine" until later today.

We both sat down at a nearby table, said thanks for the food, broke our chopsticks, and started eating. As usual, her cooking was top-notch, but there was something that tasted funny with the soup. And for some reason, I felt sick when it all hit my stomach. Then I blacked out.

* * *

I woke up in my bed for some reason and when I looked at my bedside clock, it was actually 5 o'clock. I wanted to jump out of my bed and see what happened to Xunakiy if the lunch she made got her sick too. Unfortunately, my head was feeling as if a train hit me. Then I noticed a dish with a few small fruits beside my clock with a note beside it. I read it, and it said:

Dear Zexion,

_Apparently, you and Xunakiy had some sake out into your lunch and you both got drunk. It was chaos with almost everyone being out for missions and the both of you were causing havoc. Fortunately, I found a sickness book that Xunakiy had in her room and I was able to stop your rampage without harming you too much. The cure to being drunk was actually sour pickled plums. Be sure to eat some more when you read this. And you should probably walk it all off by strolling around the castle._

_-Vexen_

I heeded the advice of the note and ate some plums. And it was no surprise that it was called _sour_ pickled plums. I had to run to the kitchen and rinse out my mouth with water, but I knew I wouldn't make it before the taste settled in my mouth. I decided to finish up my Operation: Valentine before the day ended.

* * *

I took a wrapped chocolate and put the gifts together in my room. I put it all in a small basket and I was practically done. And I decided to walk around the castle as instructed. I walked two steps outside of my room and Xigbar was there to greet me.

"Hello—"

"Don't talk to me. I just want a _quiet_ stroll around this castle and I don't want it to be constantly interrupted by you."

"Umm…I don't have anything else to do. Mind if I take that stroll with you?"

"Feh. Why not?"

"Thanks!"

We walked, and walked, and walked, and to change the pace we walked some more. We were silent for a while, which I found surprising due to Xigbar's personality. Finally we spoke up after forty-five minutes.

"So, umm…what do you want to talk about?"

"I dunno."

"Oh."

"How about out me being drunk a few hours ago?"

"Are you really sure you wanna get into that?"

"Positive."

"Okay, well, you and Xunakiy started off fainting in your seats at a table and I wanted to see if I could wake you guys up, but when I tried to shake you, you took my arm and threw me on the ground."

"I did that?"

"Yep. And you got out of your seat and started attacking me with all these wild kicks. Soon, Xunakiy got out of her seat and she started attacking me too. I ran as fast as I could away from you two, but then I ran into Larxene and soon she got into the battle."

"Are we _that_ destructive when drunk?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Are you guys having fun?" Someone said behind us.

It was Xunakiy but it seems she only just started with her stroll.

"You feeling okay, kiddo?"

"I'm fine Xigbar-sensei. What were you two talking about?"

"We were just talking about how much havoc you two caused by getting drunk."

"Havoc? Drunk?"

"Yup."

"…"

"…?"

"AAAAHHHHH!! I CAUSED TROUBLE TO EVERYONE JUST BY BEING DRUNK!! I COULD'VE INJURED SOMEONE OR WORSE, I COULD'VE KILLED SOMEBODY!! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!"

"That hurt my ears woman!"

"AAAAAHHH! I SCREAMED IN YOUR EARS! I COULD'VE DEAFENED YOU TWO! WAIT! I'M DOING IT RIGHT NO—"

I had to cover her mouth to make her stop and I just had to tell her something.

"Xunakiy, it isn't your fault we had a bad lunch. It was probably just an accident. You don't have to blame yourself for what happened. Oh yeah, you should probably stop screaming."

I put my hand down, hoping she quieted down, and she did.

"Okay, Zexion-kun!" And she hit me with one of those heart-warming smiles. It would be heart-warming if I actually had one. "Zexion-kun, I was wondering if you could be my…umm…valentine."

My mind was racing. I didn't know what to say. My mind suddenly went back to that dream I had two weeks ago. Two Xunakiys fighting over whose valentine I would be. Would Xunakiy suddenly switch to her violent side? Or will we have a peaceful Valentine's Day tomorrow? I made up my mind and told her:

"Xunakiy, I would be honored to be your valentine tomorrow."

"…"

"…?"

"Yatta! Yatta! Yatta! You said yes!"

* * *

Xigbar slipped away somewhere when Xunakiy and I met up with each other in the hallway. I was about to say something when I heard two people arguing. I was expecting it to be Axel and Marluxia, as usual. But this time…

"You just had to ruin my experiment!"

"You deserved it you old goat!"

"How did I deserve it?!"

"You destroyed the book I was borrowing from Zexion the other day!"

"That was an accident!"

It was actually Vexen and Lexaeus. I didn't understand why they were arguing because we were all good friends with each other. I wanted to step in, but they took out their weapons and were about to fight.

"I'm gonna knock you into next week!"

"How are you gonna do that, rockhead!?"

"You two should stop!" Xunakiy yelled. "You two are supposed to be friends, right? So, why are you fighting like this? I'm pretty sure whatever was happening was just a misunderstanding!"

Once again, Xunakiy worked her "magic".

"…"

"…"

Soon both of them calmed down, withdrew their weapons, and they stayed quiet.

"Guys. Since you two are done arguing, why don't you tell me what you were arguing about?"

"Umm…I don't really remember why we were arguing. Heh heh. Now I feel like an idiot."

"Same here."

"You two don't remember?"

"Nope."

"If that's the case, you two need to relax! Maybe you two are just stressed out."

"I guess so." And the both of them walked away.

"I wonder what happened…"

"I'm wondering too."

* * *

We both slept and I didn't end up with a weird dream that night. Surprising, I know, but maybe something would happen tomorrow…

"Zexion-kun! Ohiyo!" Xunakiy greeted me. I had a feeling that "ohiyo" meant good morning.

"Good morning, Xunakiy."

"Happy Valentine's Day!" She said as she took out her Valentine's gifts to me. But, she was actually holding two small wrapped chocolates.

"Why are you holding two?"

"Well, me and _her_ mulled it over last night, and we agreed that I would give your both of our Valentine's Day gifts!"

"Well that would explain it."

"I'm going to give everyone else their chocolates! Bye-bye!"

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"I have a Valentine's Day gift for you too."

"Really?"

"Yep. Lemme get it…"

I closed the door behind me so she won't see what I made for her. I felt somewhat giddy at the time, but that all changed when the basket wasn't on my table.

"GAAHH! WHERE THE HELL IS IT!?"

"Where is what Zexion-kun?"

Xunakiy was actually behind me the whole time and she heard my yelling.

"What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for your Valentine's Day gift!"

"Oh. In that case, why don't we look for it together?"

"Alright."

We were walking out of my room so we could start our search for the thief. But I suddenly heard a strange sound, as if scissors were cut something in one snap. And then I felt really weird, as if I was really frustrated and I wanted to take it out on the next person I see.

"Zexion-kun! You didn't even get me a Valentine's Day gift did you!?"

"I did get you one woman!"

"No you didn't! Then how could someone take it when you opened the door when you woke up!?"

"Someone must've taken it when I was sleeping!"

"You're just using that as an excuse!"

"No I'm not!"

We were both furious and we started trudging off in opposite directions. I was so angry and I didn't have a way to channel it out if I wasn't arguing with someone. Wait! Why was I so angry? I needed to apologize to Xunakiy, someone must've taken it when I was talking to Xigbar and Xunakiy. But I guess that's my fault for not keeping an eye on it.

And so I ran back to Xunakiy, but when I spotted her, I just turned around and started running back again. That frustrated feeling came back when I looked at her again. I just kept walking and the feeling went away again. I decided to check up on everyone else to see if they saw my basket, but everyone was bickering with each other. Everyone fighting was not a coincidence. I had to report this to Xemnas.

"Xemnas! Xemnas! Xe—what?!"

"All I'm asking for is a break! I can't even remember the last time I took a day off!"

"I asked you just a few days ago if you needed a break or not, but you said no! This is your fault because you didn't take that chance!"

"If you were a good leader, you'd give me a day off right now!"

Apparently, Xemnas had his hands full with a fight with Saïx. So, it was my job to find out what is responsible for this turn of events. And finding who took Xunakiy's gift.

"Zexion-kun! Zexion-kun!"

"Huh?"

"Zexion-kun! I got over fighting with you!"

"You did?"

"Yeah! Now we can find out who's responsible for this!"

"Okay. But, where do we start?"

"Hmm…I know, we interrogate the victims of this occurrence!"

"I hope you have a lot of time on your hands because everyone is a victim."

"We might as well start!"

* * *

To speed things up a bit, let's just say that everyone started arguing with each other when they were walking around the Proof of Existence room.

"Zexion-kun! This place is scary! It looks as if we're looking at our own graves!"

"Don't worry, as soon as we find out how to reverse this whole mess, we'll continue on with celebrating Valentine's Day."

"Okay! Wai! I heard a slicing sound!"

"Where!?"

"Ah!" She took out her megaphone. "Stop right there!"

The culprit stopped right in its tracks and we finally saw it: a small beetle-like heartless. It's horns were probably the cause of the scissors-like sound.

"It looks adorable! It's sad that we have to kill it though."

"Yeah."

"Oh! Can I do it?"

"Sure."

"Time for you to go bye-bye! Huh? Where'd it go?"

"Don't worry. We'll find it."

"Okay!"

Once again, I heard that slicing sound. And again, I was filled up with that frustrated feeling.

"You let it get away!"

"YOU let it get away! You had it right there and you could've stopped this!"

"And let me do all the work!?"

"You're just being la—GAH!"

The heartless attacked us and now our anger was directed straight at it.

"Hey! That was rude! We were in the middle of an argument! Leave us alone!" Xunakiy was yelling. She was screaming into her microphone and the notes went flying at the heartless, destroying it.

"Hey! I don't feel so frustrated anymore!"

"Me neither! You did it Xunakiy!"

"Yatta!" She gave me a hug and I blushed. But then I spotted a ripped-up basket where the heartless used to be.

"My basket…"

"That was supposed to be your gift to me?"

"Yes…"

"Don't worry, Zexion-kun! Let's just make a promise!"

"A promise?"

"Yeah! Do you still have your gift from me?"

"Yes, I have it with me right now."

"Open it!"

"Umm…okay." I did what she instructed and opened up the gift. It was one of the chocolates that we made nearly two weeks ago and a small bracelet with black and white beads. And one bead had a strange marking on it.

"What's this?"

"It's my friendship bracelet for you!"

"A friendship bracelet?"

"I have one too!" And she pulled back her sleeve, revealing a bracelet that looked just like mine. "And that marking is actually how I used to write the word 'friend' back home!"

"Oh. I see."

"Okay! Our promise will be that even if we are far apart, or if we forget each other, we will always stay friends. And this bracelet will remind us of that!"

"Thanks. Oh, aren't you supposed to give everyone else their chocolates?"

"OH NO! I FORGOT!"

"Xunakiy, you might wanna calm down."

"O-o-okay…umm, Zexion-kun, would it be okay for you to deliver everyone's chocolates for me?"

"No problem."

"Arigato!" And she skipped away.

* * *

I finished delivering the chocolates and I went back to my room. Then I heard a knock on the door. Was it Xunakiy? Unfortunately, it was Marluxia and Demyx.

"Zexion! We brought you some Valentine's chocolates!" They both said simultaneously. Immediately, I slammed the door on them. Unfortunately, they opened the door and went into my room.

"We are not leaving until you take these chocolates!" They said. I took the chocolates and tried to push them out of my room.

"But Zexion!" Demyx started. "We just wanna celebrate Valentine's with you!"

"Do you know how wrong that sounded!" I replied.

"You're just being rude you know." Marluxia said with an annoyed tone.

"You two are the ones being rude! You just barged in my room without permission!"

"Zexion-kun?"

"Out! Out! Out!" And I finally got them all out of my room. Was Xunakiy with them? Holy crap! And I flung the door open.

"Yay! Zexion is letting us in!"

"I didn't open the door for you!"

"Zexion-kun? You forgot your chocolate at the scary room."

"Oh, I did? Sorry, Xunakiy."

"It's okay!"

"You left the chocolate Xunakiy made for you? How shameful, Zexion! To trample on her feelings like that. Tsk tsk tsk."

"Oooooh! Zexion is being a meanie!"

"You two shut up!"

And after that, I forced the two to go back to their rooms, and Xunakiy went back to hers. I'd say that this was a good experience for me to celebrate my first Valentine's Day, and I'll be waiting for whatever surprises will happen next year. That is—if I don't go mad with the insanity of this Organization first.


	4. Chibi

Part 4

I woke with a wide-mouthed yawn. I felt really weird that morning because I felt as if someone had crushed me with a steamroller. I got out of the bed and went to the bathroom to see what was wrong. I was as scared as hell when I found out what happened to me. I was…was…

"CHIBI!" Xunakiy exclaimed.

"That's what we are?" Vexen asked.

"Yeah! Back in my home world, we watch cartoon shows called anime! And if something crazy of funny happens, most of the characters turn out small and they're called chibi!"

"We all look so adorable! Larxene yelled out.

"Yeah! Now Marluxia fits right in with his hairstyle!" Axel declared.

"Look who's talking!" Marluxia angrily replied. Then he pulled a hammer out of nowhere and slammed it on Axel's head.

"That hurt!"

"It serves you right!"

"Umm…Marluxia? Where'd you get the hammer?" I asked.

"I don't really know!" Marluxia happily shouted.

"Oh yeah! I forgot." Xunakiy started. "When you're a chibi, you can do things that aren't normally possible! Like so…" Then she ran off really fast and came back with a bowling ball.

"What are you going to use that for?" Xigbar asked.

"For this!" Xunakiy then rolled the ball towards us and we were sent flying in different directions.

"Strike!"

"Don't do that, Xunakiy." I objected.

"Oh, okay!"

"Any reason why we are like this?" Luxord asked.

"I have no idea!" Xunakiy said with a happy expression.

"Well, what usually happens when you're watching your shows?"

"Usually, being chibi is usually part of a closing sequence to an episode. They don't really change back."

"So we're to assume that we're stuck like this?" Vexen asked.

"Maybe, this is the cause of a heartless, you know, like the other one on Valentine's Day."

"You could be right…"

"In the meanwhile, let's just try to put up with this." Xigbar commented.

* * *

We were pondering so much about becoming "chibi" that we completely forgot about breakfast. And Xunakiy cooked up what she called an omelet. But just cooking it was hectic.

"Okay, Axel-senpai, can you bring the eggs over here."

"Okie dokie!" Axel then took the eggs out of the container and threw them up in the air.

"Nani!? What are you doing!?"

"I'm juggling! Wha—wha—waah!" Axel dropped all of them, save for just one.

"Axel, it would've helped if you just brought them over there…" Roxas commented.

"At least we have one egg that I saved!" Axel said with grin upon his face.

"What good is that one gonna do for us?" Xigbar commented. Then he shot the egg and whatever was inside got splattered all over Axel's face.

"What'd you do that for!?"

"Oooh! Ooooh! I know what to make of this!" Demyx yelled. He put on some glasses and started. "Axel's juggling of the eggs has reminded me of something. Each of the eggs represented a certain job or priority in one's life, and the juggling reminds us that we need to pay close attention to an egg, while at the same time we make sure that the other eggs do not fall. Life is about balance and staying quick and alert as everything threatens to spin out of control! But, seeing as Axel has dropped the eggs, most likely he will give up, representing that one's life has fallen out of order. But if Axel proceeds to juggle another set of eggs, he will grasp the important concept of persistence. End of commentary."

"Since when did you become a poet, Demyx?" Lexaeus asked.

"I have grasped Xunakiy's concept of humor and minisculinity in the fact that we are able to commit deeds of which are not possible while in this form of which this party seems to loathe and detest." Demyx replied and then slipped off the glasses.

"English, new Vexen!"

"Hey!" Vexen protested.

"I'm saying that we can do absolutely anything while we're chibi!"

"Why the hell couldn't you say so!?"

"Because I would be talking out of character!"

"You were talking out of character when you put those stupid glasses on!"

"Axel-kun…"

"Ye—hey!" Turns out, Xunakiy had taken out her megaphone and Axel had stopped moving.

"I demand that you get out and get buy some new eggs since you disposed of these!"

"YES MA'M!" And Axel sped out of sight.

"You can do that with your megaphone?" I asked.

"Of course!"

"I'm back!" Axel yelled while waving around an egg carton.

"Why'd you get back so fast?"

"Well, we can do anything, right?"

"Oh yeah."

"Okay! Time to make us some omelets!"

She was cracking the eggs, and most of us were complaining that it was taking a long time to crack open all the eggs, so Lexeaus just walked over, took out his tomahawk and just smashed what was left in the carton.

"Baka!" Xunakiy shouted and she gave Lexeaus a large hit on the head. It was pretty fun to watch. "You don't just smash the eggs!"

"Why not?"

"Because you'll get eggshell pieces in the omelets! And if you get eggshell pieces in the omelets, they'll be crunchy!"

"Okay."

"Let's just get on with cooking them."

She started cooking the eggs on a VERY large pan.

"What's with the large pan?"

"It's to cook everything faster!"

"You call that faster!? If you had a bigger fire, we'd have omelets in no time! Move aside!"

"No! Axel-kun, if you do that—"

"Too late!"

Axel took the pan and started to burn the eggs from underneath. Little did he know was that he was heating up the handle and it was too hot for him to hold.

"GAAAH! THIS IS HOT!"

"Axel-kun!"

Axel dropped the pan and it started up a fire in the house.

"Whadda we do!? Whadda we do!?" Xigbar was yelling while waving his arms around.

"I know what to do!" Demyx exclaimed.

Suddenly the room turned black and was replaced with one big maze. The fire turned into these small fire monsters and they were chasing around Demyx.

"How'd this happen?" I asked.

"Demyx-senpai is playing Pac-Man!"

"Pac-Man?"

"Pac-Man is a fun and classic arcade game! You have to get all the big orby-things to eat up all the bad guys and you have to eat all the orby-things to win the game. Or in this case, Demyx-senpai has to eat put out the fire thingies to win! Oh-look Demyx-senpai put out one!"

I wasn't following what she was saying, but it seems that Demyx was putting out the fire monsters.

"Oi! Demyx! There's a fire extinguisher to your right!" Larxene shouted.

"Thanks! Take that you Axel rip-offs!"

"Hey!"

The room returned back to normal, seeing as Demyx beat the fire monsters. But the kitchen and the dining room was a mess.

"Told'ya I knew what to—WAAH!"

"Demyx! Turn that thing off!"

"Heh heh. Don't we look lovely?"

We were all covered in the fire extinguisher stuff after Demyx accidentally opened it.

"If I may make a suggestion…" Vexen started. "WE STILL HAVEN"T EATEN BREAKFAST!!"

"OH NO!! I DIDN'T CCOK YOU GUYS YOUR OMELETS!! IF YOU GET HUNGRY, OR IF I HEAR YOUR STOMACHS GROWL, IT'S ALL BGECAUSE OF MY LAZINESS!! I'M SO SORRY, FRGIVE ME!!"

"Woah! Calm down, Xunakiy!"

"Okay! Let's get on with our cooking!"

"If you didn't notice, Xunakiy, the kitchen is a mess..."

"Oh…Let's just order takeout then!"

* * *

"I'm full! I can't eat another bite!" Most of us said with bloated stomachs.

"So, what else happens when we're chibi?" I asked.

"Well, almost anything can happen!"

"Does that mean Vexen will give me a horsey ride?" Roxas asked.

"No I will not."

"You know, Vexen, it won't be long before I'm all grown up. One day you'll wake up and wonder how all the years slipped by. You'll look back and say, 'Where has the time gone? Roxas is so big, it's hard to remember when he was small enough that I could give him horsey rides.' …But I guess that those days will be lost forever."

Vexen was silent for about five minutes and Roxas was about to walk away until Vexen angrily threw Roxas on his back and started running.

"Only for one stupid minute…" Vexen told Roxas.

"I'm just happy that you're meek enough to do this for me!"

"Shut up."

We all laughed our butts off, similar to how Vexen did to me on Xunakiy's third day. While I pondered this, Vexen started seeming a little tired.

"I think I've worked through my potential guilt now."

"No, no! Jump over somebody!"

"How do you expect me to do that!?"

"I don't!"

"Okay, horsey rides are DONE." And Vexen threw Roxas right off his back.

"WAAAH! I GOT AN OUCHY BOO-BOO!"

"That's nice…"

"NICE!? NICE!? I GOT AN INJURY FOR PETE'S SAKE!!"

"Who cares?"

"I forgot about that factor."

For some reason, a telephone rang. I didn't even know we had working telephones here. Larxene picked it up.

"Hello? Mm-hmm…No thank you, I'm not interested. Hmm? …No, I don't want…mm…as I said, I don't…mm-hmm…no, I…look, I'm not…hmm?…" She stayed quiet but… "DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT I HAVE A LIFE BEYOND THIS SALES PITCH AND YOU'RE INTRUDING ON IT!?" Then she slammed the phone back down with such force, that there was a crater where the phone charger was supposed to be.

We were all scared when we looked at Larxene and then she put a hand to her head. "There would be more civility in this world if people didn't take it as an invitation to walk on you."

Then Demyx spoke up. "Some of us are only civil because we don't know any swear words."

"Meaning you, bubble-boy?"

"I didn't mean myself, I was talking about some other members in this Organization."

"Like who?"

"I'll get back to you on that, heh."

"Hey, Demyx!" Axel yelled.

"Yeah!"

"Want to know a funny trick? When somebody isn't looking, you tie his shoes together!"

"Haha! That sounds so immature, but that's the beauty of it! Let's go find some sucker who isn't in the room to pull it on!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's go—WAAH!" Demyx had fallen for the trick.

"HA HA! I told you that was funny!"

"Grr…You get back here!" Demyx quickly got up and started bounding after Axel, but he fell almost every other jump.

"EVERYONE! VAMPIRE BUGS! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Xigbar came into the room screaming and waving his hand around his head.

"Umm…Xigbar…those are mosquitoes." Luxord commented.

"So if they drink your blood, you don't turn into one?"

"No."

"Oh, hey! Luxord!"

"What?"

"I see a mosquito on the back of your head!"

"WHA—WHERE!? WHE—OW!!"

"Can you believe it!? I missed! OI! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Luxord pulled out a large fly swatter from behind him.

"I'm not aiming for you, there's a mosquito that landed on your back."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

All of this had made us laugh so hard that most of us were actually coughing and in between the coughs, there was uncontrollable laughter.

* * *

We spent most of the day playing around with each other like this and then the time suddenly came when we were supposed to go to sleep, but of course, our chibi-ness wouldn't let us.

"Hey! Axel-senpai! Roxas-senpai! Demyx-kun!"

"Yes!?" They all said simultaneously.

"I got you guys model airplanes!"

"Airplanes? What are those?" Demyx asked.

"In my world, they are a mode of transportation for different numbers of people." They all seemed fascinated. "I got you the model airplane that is called a jet, the kind that only seats two, and you guys can build a small-scale version!"

"Yay!"

"Oops. I need to go somewhere today! See you guys later! Have fun!" And she sped off. Only me, Roxas, Demyx, and Axel were in the room.

"Okay, since we don't know how to build this thing, we'll just start with Dem-Dem's model." Axel suggested.

"Why do we need to start with mine?" Demyx asked.

"Because if it turns out ugly, I have something to burn using all of my frustration instead of you."

"Sounds reasonable. Okay, let's open it up." Roxas suggested.

"Wow. It looks complicated." I said.

"Okay, umm…how do we do this? There are so many small pieces…" Demyx asked.

"Shouldn't we read the instructions, Axel?"

"Do I look like a sissy, Roxas?"

"Oh, well." I took the instructions and I nearly got dizzy looking at them. "The instructions are in a completely different language…"

"Lemme see those…Oh no! They are! How are we gonna do this!?" Demyx shouted.

"Uh oh, I got glue on my hands." Axel said.

"Anyone know how to translate this?"

"This stuff is worse than mozzarella cheese."

"It's not so hard to believe that they put an English sticker here that says, 'Get adult help for assembly.'"

"Yecch. What a mess."

"Should I learn Xunakiy's language?"

"I hope Xemnas likes these newspapers here on the floor because they sure aren't going anywhere."

"Nuts! This wheel strut snapped. Why do they make 'em so darn small? I guess that was an optional piece." Demyx said.

"Hey, Demyx." Roxas asked. "The wheel here won't fit in the wheel well."

"Here, let me try. Sometimes, you just have to …" _SNAP! _"DARN IT!!"

"This plane is in for some rough landings."

"Look at this stupid model. It looks awful!" Axel shouted. "Our plane doesn't look like anything like the picture on the box."

"Maybe we can fix it when we paint it." Roxas suggested.

"How'd they paint eyebrows on a pilot that's less than an inch tall!?"

"I think that's a real jet superimposed on a plastic stand."

We were working on Axel's jet for a couple more minutes, but I think we would've gone insane with assembling that thing if we were regular people.

"I hate this model, nothing fit right, the instructions were incomprehensible, the decals ripped, the paint slopped, and the glue got everywhere. What a disaster. Munny completely down the drain. I can't think of an evening I've enjoyed less. What a dumb rip-off…Of course with this for practice, we can work on mine with no flaws whatsoever!"

"What am I supposed to do with this!?" Demyx demanded. "I thought you said you were going to burn it!"

"I changed my mind."

"I'll tear you limb from limb!" Now _that_ would've been a fun sight to see, unfortunately, Axel and Roxas warped out of the room.

"Darn it!"

"Hey guys!" Xunakiy came back yelling.

"What is it Xunakiy?"

"Zexion-kun! You'll never believe what I came across!"

"What?"

"This!" And Xunakiy pulled out a small creature. No doubt a heartless because it had an insignia. But this one was…

"It's adorable!" Demyx shouted. It was adorable. It was all small and shaped like what Xunakiy described as a riceball.

"I think this is what is causing our chibi-ness."

"You think so?"

"Uh-huh."

"Oh well…"

We proceeded to kill it, and Demyx was crying because it was so cute. Then everything returned to normal. No more smallness and no more crazy events taking place. Demyx went to sleep, but me and Xunakiy wanted to go to the library.

* * *

I was still thinking about my dream the other night about my supposed conversation with Xigbar, it was driving me nuts thinking of what it was really about. So, since Xunakiy was from a different world than everyone else, I thought I might ask her.

"Can I ask you something Xunakiy?"

"Go ahead, Zexion-kun!"

"Is it possible for someone to have someone else that looks like them in another world?"

"Actually, it is possible."

"Really?"

"Yes. Even though someone lives in one world, they won't be aware of the other self that exists in another world. They might even have different personalities. But the one thing that won't change about them is their essence."

"Essence?"

"What they are, call it an aura, if you want to."

"I see."

"Zexion-kun!"

"What?"

"I completely forgot about it!"

"Forgot about what?"

"A lunar eclipse! It's going to happen tonight!"

"A lunar eclipse?"

"You just gotta see! Let's go outside! Oh, wait! I need to tell everyone else!"

"I don't think—" She ran outside and took out her megaphone, transformed it into a mike stand, and shouted.

"EVERYONE! I NEED YOU TO GO OUTSIDE TO SEE SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT!!" Then she turned back. "Zexion-kun, you coming?"

"Of course."

We ran outside to Memory's Skyscraper, where Kingdom Hearts as a moon was pretty small from that view, but something was strange about it that evening. Pretty soon, I found out why.

"Look what's happening to the moon!" Axel shouted. Saïx started looking sick, and I started to see why everyone was amazed.

"Told you guys it was something important!" Xunakiy said in an I-told-you-so voice.

The moon was slowly darkening and then it turned completely red.

"This won't happen again in a long time, that's why this is so special. And this is also one memory we can all share."

"Yeah."

"Ain't this cute!" Xigbar said behind us. He then walked over and put his hands on our shoulders. "Y'know, if you two were whole, you'd make a pretty good couple!" And then he took his hands off and continued to watch.

"These are one of life's pleasures that can make life so enjoyable." Xunakiy said. She was acting a lot like a poet today.

Things like this lunar eclipse have actually happened before. Several times, in fact. But, before tonight, I never bothered to look at things like this. I always thought they were a waste of time. But now, I feel somewhat different. As if, my soul is a lot lighter. I should just stop with the poetics.


	5. Dreamland Park Part 1

Part 6

Part 5

I woke up, surprisingly without Xunakiy in my bedroom. I raised my arm and looked at my "friendship bracelet" that Xunakiy gave me at Valentine's Day. I got dressed and someone knocked at the door. I opened it, and…

"Good morning Zexion-kun!" Xunakiy said while lunging forward.

"GAAH!"

I fell because she had landed right on top of me.

"Good morning!"

"Energetic as ever, aren't we?"

"So! What are we gonna do today?"

"I dunno…"

"Zexion-kun…you're looking uncomfortable."

"That's because I am…"

"OH NO!! IT'S BECAUSE I'M ON TOP OF YOU ISN'T IT!? I'LL GET OFF!!"

That scream was as loud as always, but she was really close to my ears. One of my ears was hurting, but it wasn't through yet. And as if Xunakiy read my mind…

"OH NO!! YOUR EARS ARE HURTING!! IF YOU LOSE YOUR HEARING, I'LL HAVE RUINED YOUR LIFE!! I'LL GET OUT OF YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW!!" And she sped off, only to be greeted by the wall.

"Xunakiy! Are you alright!?"

"Somewhat…"

"I'm glad to hear that."

"What _are_ we gonna do today?"

"I don't know."

"I know! Let's go to my home world's Dreamland Park!"

"Dreamland Park?"

"Yeah! It's an amusement park! It has all these rides and you get to eat all these yummy foods and you get to watch these fantastic firework shows and…and…I forgot all the…rest. Heh."

"Well, it sounds fun, seeing as you are acting so hyper about it."

"I know! Let's bring everyone there!"

"Wait a minute…"

"Why?"

"If we bring everyone there, it'll be really weird to the other people there to see people dressed entirely in black…"

"Oh…"

"Let's just buy some new clothes, or bring just a few of us there!"

"Let's just go with both of those."

"Okay!"

"Wait, Xunakiy!" I yelled at her, but she was too far away to hear."

--

It only took half an hour for Xunakiy to round up who would be going. They were Vexen, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, and Roxas.

"So, Xunakiy, since we couldn't bring the entire Organization, you decided to bring more than half of it?" Marluxia asked.

"Yup!"

"Whenarewegoingwhenarewegoingwhenarewegoing!?" Demyx repeatedly asked.

"Shut up Demyx!" Axel demanded.

"Calm down, Axel." Vexen and Roxas said simultaneously.

"We're going soon, Demyx-senpai!"

"Yippee!"

"This won't cost much will it?" Larxene asked

"Usually it does, but so many people that work at the park seem to mistake me for my other, and I used to be really good friends with all of them, so we get in for free!"

"Sweet!" Roxas yelled.

"Alright! Let's go!" And she opened up a portal. "Everybody in!"

--

We had to go to a "downtown" district, to buy new clothes, because we all stuck out like a sore thumb. That alone made everyone happy. All except Roxas, who actually had his own non-uniform clothes.

"Alright, everyone! Now you can pick out your own clothes!"

Everyone just dove right in to all the shelves. I just casually looked for anything else black in the store. I chose a simple black T-shirt on top of dark-gray long sleeves, with some black jeans and fingerless black gloves.

"Geez, Zexion. If you were going to wear an outfit with so much black in it, you should've just stayed in your uniform." Vexen complained. He was wearing a simple blue longsleeve, jeans, and he stayed with his uniform shoes. Due to some rules, he had to put his hair in a ponytail.

"Shut up."

"Whatever…"

"How does this look?!" Marluxia enthusiastically asked. He was wearing something that looks like what Xunakiy described as a yukata. It was dark red with an even darker shade of red that was used for the rose designs.

"Take it off and choose something else!" I demanded.

"It seems you do not like my selection of apparel. Oh! That gives me all the more reason to wear it!"

"We're going to be walking a lot, and that thing will probably get dirty."

"No smudge will ever hit this masterpiece!"

"It's a master disaster…" I muttered.

"Hey guys!" Larxene's voice called out. "Do I look good?" She was wearing black sneakers, black pants, and a small yellow jacket.

"You look fine!" Axel said. He was wearing black cargo pants and a red T-shirt with flames on it.

"Can we get going now?" Demyx asked impatiently. He was wearing a light-blue T-shirt with waves on it, blue cargo pants, and he stuck with his uniform shoe, like Vexen.

"We have to wait for Xunakiy." I answered. Sure enough, she came running wearing a short blue skirt, a sleeveless jacket, and long fingerless gloves.

"Let's get going! We don't want to spend the whole day here! Come on!"

--

We got to the gate, and Xunakiy was talking with an old lady at a booth. They seemed to know each other, and that was what got us our tickets.

"Okay guys! I got the tickets, so let's go!"

"Alright!" Everyone, except me, yelled.

"Okay, I got us a map, where do we start?" Marluxia asked.

"Let's just focus on riding all the rides before the day is over, because this park is so big!" Xunakiy suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Demyx agreed. "Hey! Let's go to that ride first!" Demyx said, pointing to a ride on the map. It was in a part of the park that was outlined green. It was northwest of where we were and we had to walk down this really big street just to get to it.

"This is so exciting! This is the first time I've ever been to an amusement park! Even this street, despite its lack of rides, looks cool!" Larxene shouted.

"How are we going to get there without tiring ourselves?" Axel asked.

"Hey! What's that thing pulling that other thing?" Demyx curiously asked.

"Oh! That's a horse, and it pulls carriages. Thanks for noticing it! Now we can just hitch a ride on it!"

"Thank goodness…" Marluxia sighed.

We each hopped on the carriage, and it started down the street. Everyone was acting like little kids as we rolled down the street. They kept asking Xunakiy questions about what something or someplace was.

"What's that place with all the blinking lights?"

"That's an arcade, Roxas-senpai! An arcade is where you can play games."

"Lookie lookie! What's that?"

"That's a train station. It goes all around the perimeter of the park. In case you don't want to travel too far."

"Hey! We're here!"

--

The street stopped at a big circular end that didn't have any tracks. Ahead was a colossal castle painted colorfully, and with a bridge underneath it. Xunakiy told us that the bridge was a shortcut into another side of the park. We turned left and entered a place that resembled a jungle.

"Okay, here's the ride's line starting point." Vexen stated.

"Oh no…"

"What's wrong Xunakiy?"

"The waiting time is two hours…"

"Hey!" A voice shouted. The person who shouted at us was a man that was part of the staff. We knew it right away because of the tacky costume he was wearing. The man ran toward Xunakiy.

"Hey, kiddo! I haven't seen you in a while! If you don't want to wait that long, just use these Quick-line passes!"

"Arigato!" And then the man ran back towards his station.

"Who was that, Xunakiy?" I asked.

"That was an old friend of mine."

"It seems you have a lot of friends."

"I know. C'mon! Let's get going!"

We got to the starting point of a new line, and we each showed the passes that the man gave us, making us get to the ride even faster. The line queue itself was strange. We passed through what Xunakiy described as a temple, went through an eerie cave, and passed through a supposed "construction site".

"Xunakiy…" Demyx whined. "This place is scary!"

"Be quiet you big baby!" Axel shouted. "You were the one who chose the ride!"

"Xunakiy! What are those things!?" Marluxia yelled.

"Those are jeeps! A kind of vehicle that was chosen for this ride! Y'see, this ride is a supposed excavation for treasure, and these jeeps can master any terrain, making any ride through a temple a breeze!"

"Oh."

"This way please…" A staff member alerted us.

We were ushered onto the front seats of the jeep. And we had to put on "seatbelts". There was a voice coming out from the back of our seats, which made us jump. Demyx was whining, making everyone else in the jeep with us laugh. The voice announced some rules…

"_Welcome to our Forbidden Jingle Temple Jeep Ride! Please make sure that your belongings are safely secured, and you have your seatbelt safely secured. This ride is a fast adventure through rugged terrain, and those with medical conditions should not ride. Make sure you scream loud and high, because we're going to take pictures of your group near the end of the ride! Enjoy your adventure!"_

The jeep lunged forward when the ride started and I heard several chatty voices coming from the back of us. Then I heard Marluxia and Larxene yell.

"This is so exciting!!"

We went through two doors, and an eerie voice started echoing.

"You will receive your treasures soon, but do not see into the eyes of the temple statue…"

We started moving forward, towards a hill that had an obvious downhill grade after it. But when we got to the top, a statue started flashing.

"FOOLS! You have stared into my eyes, now you will journey towards the gates of no return!"

"What did we do!?" Axel yelled.

We turned left and encountered a robot that looked like a person holding two gates back from opening.

"You just had to look didn't you…Never mind! Just go to your left and avoid all the traps! It's the only way out!"

We swerved left and we went into a tunnel. Lightning was flashing and there were dozens of snake statues, making most of us scream, but Axel Roxas were enjoying it. They were putting their hands up and screaming with joy, but the screams were more of uncontrollable laughter.

"This is awesome!" Axel screamed.

"This is NOT awesome!" Demyx disagreed.

We came to a HUGE statue across a bubbling pit of lava. Axel was screaming even louder, and Demyx started whimpering. One of the sides of the statue was eroded and looked like a skull, and that side shot beams of fire at us. We turned right and encountered "mummies" and when we turned right, an enormous snake was leaning towards us, and since I was on the far right of our transportation, I was leaning over towards Xunakiy, who was at my left.

"Zexion-kun! It's a fake!"

"But it looks real to me!"

We turned again, but the corridor was so dark, we couldn't see a thing. But then bugs were illuminated at all of our sides, finally making Demyx cry. We got out of there, and Demyx sighed a sigh of relief, we began crossing an unstable bridge, with the eroded statue to our right.

"Scary! Scary! Scary!" Demyx screamed.

We managed to get across, and we went behind the statue, because it was actually hollow. We passed through hundreds of skulls and drove right beside the lava and we even blasted through an overhanging tree root.

"This is better than I thought it would be!" Vexen exclaimed.

Our ride came to a silent hallway, with carved pictures on it. I leaned forward to discover that there were holes in the wall. Puffs of air started to shoot out, giving the impression that they were shooting at us. Demyx was actually staying silent. We safely got through, and went through a black tunnel, feeling it was finally over.

"I'm glad that's over." Demyx sighed.

"That was awesome!" Roxas shouted.

"Guys…what's that?" Marluxia asked.

"HOLY CRAP!" Most of us screamed.

It was a HUGE boulder coming our way, and everyone was screaming like crazy. When it was about to crush us, we actually went under the thing and we came to a wall with the same robot, and the boulder was smashed into the wall.

"Next time…wear blindfolds, okay?"

We all turned to look at Demyx, who was shrinking in his seat out of embarrassment. We got off the ride shortly after, and got out of the building.

--

It was Vexen's turn to pick the ride this time. He chose a ride that was of the "scary" sort.

"Why are you going to choose that one, Vexen!?" Demyx complained.

"I actually didn't intend to pick a ride, but seeing as you were crying your eyes out on the previous one, I wanted to make you go in your pants."

"That's mean!"

We got Quick-line passes again, and we were escorted into an octagonal room. An eerie voice starts greeting us and he encourages us to stand in the "dead" center. When I looked back, our entrance was now a wall.

"I'm liking this already…" Vexen said.

"I'm not." Demyx protested.

I randomly looked up, and I noticed that the ceiling was getting higher and higher. There were pictures on every other wall, and they seemed to be stretching also. They each showed something relating to death—a woman on a tightrope, balancing above a crocodile, an old lady sitting on a gravestone with an axe in the bust, three men trying to not sink in quicksand, and a man standing on top of a keg of dynamite with a lit fuse. I was starting to like this place too.

We all heard screams fill the air as a corpse dangled on top of us when the room went completely dark.

"_I'm sorry for scaring you prematurely…and make this observation: there are no windows and no doors, which offers you the challenge to find a way out! But there's always…my way…"_

One wall opened up, and it went to a portrait corridor, that was filled with pictures that were even creepier than the last set. We then went to a loading area and got in these "doom buggies". We had to get in two by two, so it was me and Xunakiy, Axel and Larxene, Vexen and Marluxia, and Demyx and Roxas.

"This is going to be so cool!" Xunakiy exclaimed.

"Hopefully…"

Our doom buggies ascended a black staircase to the next part of the ride. They pointed to an endless hallway that had a lone candelabra floating around. When we were pointed to another direction, we saw a crow on top of a dead plant-adorned coffin. And the creepy part was that a ghastly hand was sticking out, and screeching to be free.

"If that was a real person, I would've been really sad…" I heard Xunakiy say.

"Let's check how Demyx is doing!" I suggested. I had to get her mind off the melancholy thoughts. "DEMYX! HOW'RE YOU DOING?!"

"I HATE THIS RIDE!!"

Demyx was shouting, but crying at the same time. Xunakiy started laughing, which sort of ruined the creepiness of the ride. But then again, who would want to see someone like Xunakiy be sad?

We moved on to a hallway with several doors, all of them were shaking, knocking, moving, or breathing. Then we went to a "séance" circle, with instruments floating around, and some lady's head inside a crystal ball.

"How do you think they make those things float like that, Zexion-kun?"

"I don't exactly know. My hunch is that they suspend them on strong rope that only appears visible if any light happens to hit it. But no light will reach this room because it's entirely black."

"Wow! Zexion-kun's so smart!"

"You could say that…"

We were escorted to a large ballroom, where many events were taking place. It actually seemed as if ghosts were dancing, hanging from the chandeliers, or playing an organ. Our doom buggies stopped in the middle of it so we could see everything happening.

"It seems that even though you die, you can still have some fun in your afterlife." Xunakiy said.

"It looks like a cheery moment doesn't it?"

"Mm-hmm…"

There was a lot more than what I saw a few moments ago. There were two portraits that frequently tried to shoot each other, a birthday party was going on, and the ones hanging on the chandeliers were gorging themselves in wine.

"You think we'll ever have a cheery moment like this, Zexion-kun?"

"There isn't any doubt that we'll have a party as fantastic as this…" I wanted to make her feel as happy as possible while she was with us, so I decided to add some more to my sentence. "…because you'll be there to make everything worthwhile."

"Thank you, Zexion-kun." She replied with a warm smile.

Our ride started up again and it brought us to an attic. It was filled with all these wedding gifts, personal items, mementos, and portraits. There were five portraits in all, each with the same recurring bride. Each of the couples looked happy together, until the husbands' heads seemed to disappear with the accompaniment of a chopping sound.

"Well that seemed to ruin the moment." Xunakiy said with a pout.

We were starting to exit, when we saw a floating bride. It was the same woman who appeared in all the portraits. She said some words, and a hatchet appeared in her hand.

"So she killed off her husbands for their possessions? That seems stupid!"

"There are people throughout the worlds that do terrible things like this…"

"I guess you're right…"

We exited the attic, and we supposedly fell out of a window and dropped backwards. While the buggies were slowly moving, we saw a black bird overhead on a tree branch, cawing at us.

"That raven looks scary!" Xunakiy yelped.

"Isn't it a crow?"

"I don't know…"

We proceeded to a graveyard, and saw many ghosts appear. There was a king and queen on a teeter-totter, a princess on a swing, a mummy, an old man, singing busts, a band, and a whole lot more. The band was making the music while the busts were singing to it, with more ghosts singing along. The mummy was trying to say something to the old man beside him, but he can't understand due to the bandages.

"I don't think this ride is that scary, after seeing all the happy things going on here."

"Me neither."

Our ride suddenly stopped before going to the next part of the ride. The eerie voice from the beginning of the ride apologized, and said that our tour would continue shortly. I decided to start staring at the robots that were still happily singing. But something caught my eye. There were patches of darkness that started appearing on the fog that blanketed the ground.

"Xunakiy…Do you see—"

"I see it too."

The patches grew yellow eyes, and then they rose up from the ground. Several people were pointing and laughing at them, thinking it was still part of the ride. But then, one of the creatures got too close to a doom buggy, and the two children inside it screamed their lungs out.

"Zexion-kun! Those are heartless!"

"I know!" I tried to stand up, but the bars didn't let us. "C'mon! Move!"

"Zexion-kun! Look for a latch, or something that is connected to these things, that would make it get loose!"

I had some sort of feeling inside me. I had to protect all of these people. I desperately felt around the outside of the buggy. There! It was near the back. But I couldn't reach it…

"Don't give up Zexion-kun!"

Her encouragement was probably what got me to do it. I freed the both of us, and the others. And we had to fight each and every heartless without damaging the ride.

"These Neoshadows sure are annoying!" Axel shouted.

We were all bombarded with screams and pleas to be rescued. I didn't know what to do. I was never in a situation like this.

"Zexion-kun! Help me lead the people out!"

"Right!" I tried not to sound stupid.

Xunakiy started helping the people out of the buggies, and escorting them to the ride's exit. I had to help too. I ran over to the nearest buggy and carried off a couple of small kids. I was about to help out some more people when a small boy had asked me something.

"Hey mister? Are you some kind of hero?"

I didn't exactly know what to answer. But I just answered what I thought.

"I'm not even close." And then I ran off.

"Zexion! A little help over here!" Marluxia demanded.

"Coming!" I destroyed most of the surrounding heartless with a flurry of pages. But I noticed a small shadow tugging at Marluxia's ribbon. "I told you that would be trouble!"

"You didn't say that!"

"I reworded it!"

"Whatever…"

We were almost done with the raid of heartless, when I heard that small boy's voice again.

"Mr. Hero! Help us!"

I turned around to discover that the boy and his companion were being backed up into several zombies. I was the closest one to them, and everyone else was fending off the remaining heartless. I had to do something…

"HELP!"

"I'm coming!" I jumped in there without thinking, and I ended up getting several slashes from the heartless, but I destroyed them anyway. I held my

"Thank you Mr. Hero!"

"I told you, I'm not a hero."

"You are to me!"

I felt somewhat happy hearing that. I was never called a "hero" before. But I would've felt even happier if it wasn't for my new injury at my left shoulder.

"Zexion-kun! Daijobu!?"

"I'm fine…"

"No you are not! You have this BIG wound running from your shoulder to the middle of your back!"

"It's that serious?"

"Yes!"

"Oh…"

--

A roaring crowd greeted all of us when we got outside. They were obviously grateful to us for saving them. I wanted to stay out of it, but Marluxia and Vexen suddenly propped me up.

"Don't zone out on us like you always do! You deserve the spotlight!"

"Why!?"

"Because you actually got injured for the sake of someone outside the Organization!"

"But these people don't know that!"

"Who cares!"

We were parading with the crowd for about ten minutes. But they quickly dispersed, leaving us eight behind.

"Time to go to the next ride and hopefully heartless won't attack this time." Marluxia sighed.

"How will I enjoy the ride with a wound like this!? Those people didn't even bother to treat it!"

"Try to ignore it, Zexion-kun!"

"I got injured like that once when I was whole. But I got my mind off it by thinking about happy things!"

"Such as…"

"…"

"…?"

"I can't really remember. Heh."

"Oh well…"

"Hey! Mr. Hero!"

We all turned to look at the boy I rescued. He was running towards me.

"Mr. Hero! I didn't know what to thank you with, so I got you this!" He took out a necklace. It was silver with a large outstretched angelic wing. It was a good thing it wasn't girly. "Oh yeah! My parents work here, so I got you guys lifetime passes!"

"Lifetime passes?"

"Zexion-kun! Those are really special! If you have those, you can always get in for free all the time!"

"Really? Thanks kid."

"You can call me Daiki! I come here often since I'm home-schooled. So I hope I can see you sometime soon! Bye-bye!" And then he ran off.

"That was nice of him." Xunakiy stated.

"I guess." I put on the necklace. It went well with my mostly-black clothes.

"Zexion-kun! Let's go to the next ride!" Xunakiy yelled.

She was with the others and they were very far away from me. I guess I must've zoned out.

"I'm coming!" And I dashed right off.


	6. Dreamland Park Part 2

Part 6

"That necklace looks good on you, Zexion-kun!" Xunakiy complimented.

"Thanks." I replied.

"I'd have to agree, but I doubt Xemnas will allow it as part of your uniform!" Vexen said.

"Can we focus on getting on another ride first?"

"Righty-O!"

We were wandering through crowds, wondering what ride we should ride next.

"Can I pick this time?" Axel asked.

"Sure."

"Okay, let's just go here. It's practically right next to us anyway."

"Alright."

I had a feeling it had something to do with pirates because of all the building. The building of the ride had unique architecture and wasn't like the others in the park. I read a lot of books about architecture, and these kinds of buildings were always built during the time of pirates.

"It looks…interesting." Vexen commented.

"At least it looks better that what you picked. Demyx didn't even cry once on that!"

"It looked good to me."

"You want to start something?!"

"At least it would break the boredom."

"No! Guys, we don't want a blizzard in the park, or the park being burned to the ground!" Xunakiy yelled.

"Oh, alright."

* * *

We got in line, and got in the boat. I didn't expect it to be a water ride. But I was okay with it anyway. Me, Xunakiy, Demyx and Roxas were at the front. While Marluxia, Vexen, Axel, and Larxene were in the second row.

"I didn't know they had water rides here!" Demyx exclaimed.

"This could be your good fortune then." I added.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment, or an insult?" Demyx asked.

"I think it's a little of both." Roxas replied. "Oh. Here we go."

The ride started up with a little boost to get the boat off the platform. When we splashed n the water, banjo music started playing.

"Hey, Demyx! This sounds like a better version of sitar!" Larxene laughed. She finally spoke up. She had been very quiet on this trip.

"Shut up."

We passed by two floating houses in a swamp, one of which had an old man rocking his chair. Then we passed into a tunnel. There were a couple of boats ahead of us, and they were waiting to get in the dark cave in front of them. I looked up, and I saw a talking skull overhead.

"_Psst! Avast there! It be too late to alter course, mateys. And there be plundering pirates lurkin' in ev'ry cove, waitin' to board. Sit closer together and keep your ruddy hands in board. That be the best way to repel boarders. And mark well me words, mateys: Dead men tell no tales! Ye come seekin' adventure with salty old pirates, eh? Sure you've come to the proper place. But keep a weather eye open mates, and hold on tight. With both hands, if you please. Thar be squalls ahead, and Davy Jones waiting for them what don't obey." _The skull eerily ranted.

When the boat in front of us passed into the cave, we heard chilly screams, and a loud splash.

"WOOHOO!" Demyx screamed.

"SHUT UP DE—AAAHHH!" Axel and Larxene shouted simultaneously.

We went down at a fast downhill grade, but it was pretty short. By the end, we were all partly wet.

"That was awesome!"

"No it wasn't!"

"_Dead men tell no tales…" _An unknown voice chanted.

"AAAAHHH!" No doubt that was Xunakiy. "This is so scary!"

"Xunakiy, if you just think about happy thoughts, you won't be so scared." I said.

Xunakiy turned my way and smiled, but she didn't say anything.

We all turned left to look at two pirates who were guarding treasure with macabre delight.

"Would anyone really died for money, Zexion-kun?" Xunakiy asked me.

"Some people would." And then I smirked at a thought I had.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because I thought that maybe Luxord would end up that way." I replied. Then I heard everyone burst in laughter.

"Nice one!" Larxene said as she patted me on the back.

"That's a very strong possibility." Vexen commented. He was done laughing.

Then we passed by a dead captain driving a sunk ship, two skeletons playing chess, and a self-playing organ. Then we got to a misty waterfall, that we passed through, and we heard cannonballs ahead.

"That can't be good." Roxas stated.

"Don't worry, Roxas ole' buddy! They won't aim the cannonball at us!"

"Why not?"

"Because we'll sue them."

"Good point."

They weren't aiming at us, but they were making these big splasehes that got some of us a little wet.

"Gah! I hate water rides!" Larxene yelled.

"Try to put up with this, Onee-chan." Xunakiy said while turning around.

"That's easy for you to say."

"Would Axel-senpai get this upset?"

"Let's ask him."

"No, I won't get this upset." Axel concluded.

"You're supposed to side with me!" Larxene yelled while trying to strangle him.

"Onee-chan! Don't kill him!"

"I was kidding." And Larxene let go.

"Easy—KOFF—for you to—KOFF—say."

"Axel-senpai? Are you alright?"

"I'll live."

"EEEK!" Xunakiy yelped. Apparently, a cannonball had made a bigger splash, and it wet Xunakiy's backside.

"Xunakiy…you might want to sit sown." I hinted.

"O-o-o-o-k-k-ay." She said while slowly sitting down.

We passed through the fight scene and went to a scene where pirates were taking over a town. There was some guy who was getting dunked into a well. Obviously the pirates were trying to extort info from him.

"That's not very nice."

"Xunakiy, you think pirates would be pirates without being rough?"

"I guess you're right."

Then I looked a different way only to see ladies being auctioned off.

"That is totally against women's rights!" Larxene shouted.

"Cork it Larxene."

"Shut up, Axel!"

Seeing those two bicker was never so much fun. I managed to laugh. But I tried to cover it up.

"Zexion-kun! You're laughing!"

"No I'm not…"

"Yes you are!"

"Maybe a little…"

We went on to see pirates gorging themselves in wine and singing some weird song. Some of them were still attacking townspeople, but there were these two pirates being chased by a frustrated housewife.

"How long is this ride?" Marluxia asked.

"It said about five minutes at the ride entrance description." I answered.

"We're almost done right?"

"I'm not keeping track."

"What?!"

We passed to see some pirates in jail trying to "bribe" a dog for the keys. But their attempts proved futile. Then we saw pirates trying to shoot each other because they were drunk. Next we saw some unfamiliar pirate drinking wine and dressing himself up in gold jewelry. After that, we finally got back to the sleepy bayou where we started the short trip.

"That was interesting." Vexen said.

"Not really." I replied.

"I bet the ride that you pick will be worse than this!"

We walked through a restaurant and got to the exit.

"Okay, where are we going now?" Xunakiy asked.

"Can I pick?" Roxas asked in return.

"Of course, Roxas-senpai!"

"Okay, lemme check the map…"

"Take your time…"

"I got it! Let's go here!"

"But I don't want to go to a ride like that!" Axel and Larxene once again said simultaneously.

"Too bad! I picked!" Roxas chanted.

* * *

"Here we are!" Xunakiy said happily.

"It's A LOT bigger than what was put on the map." Axel commented.

"I don't want to go!" Larxene shouted. Then nearby, some teenager boys were snickering. Larxene looked towards their way, but they didn't stop. I knew those boys were in for trouble.

"Oh! So just because I don't want to ride gives you a reason to laugh at me!? Well!? Does it!?" Larxene was shouting. And then she threw some of her knives at their feet. The boys were laughing much harder now that they found out she missed. But then she made a few hand gestures, and they were electrocuted on the spot.

"If you want some more, go ahead and start laughing!" Larxene yelled as they ran away.

"Onee-chan! That was mean!"

"They deserved it!"

"But they weren't worth it."

Larxene just stared at her blankly. Then she just walked into the line without a word.

"Wow. I didn't know you had it in you to calm her down like that, Xunakiy." Axel complimented.

"She needs to learn that not everyone deserves to be electrocuted, even if they are doing something bad."

"Okay…"

We all ran through the line with our passes, and we were reminded that we were going to have our pictures taken near the end of the ride. Throughout the line queue, we saw signs about searching for "a laughing place". We had to get into two separate boats because there were eight of us. Everyone else was in one boat, while Xunakiy and me were on another.

"See you later Zexion!" Demyx shouted as his log boat passed off.

"This is so exciting!"

"You said that for a couple of other rides too…"

"I did? Oh. Hey! Here's our ride!"

We climbed in at the front of the log, because it was smallest to tallest. I had to squeeze in with Xunakiy in the front because there was this family of five that had to stay together. So Xunakiy had to sit in-between my legs. Good thing the boat was roomy.

"This isn't uncomfortable with you, is it, Zexion-kun?"

"I'm fine."

"Here we go!" And our boat jolted off into the water.

We had some several splashes because of some shallow drops. Then we went inside the mountain. There were animatronic animals that were singing happily. But there was this rabbit that was being chased by a bear and a fox.

"What did that rabbit do to be chased around so much, Zexion-kun?"

"Maybe those two are just hungry."

"EEEK!"

We were cut short by a seemingly long drop. The only things we could see during that time were multi-colored neon mushrooms. Since the others' boat was in front of ours, I could hear them all scream perfectly.

"THIS IS SO COOL!"

"NO IT ISN'T!"

"YOU'RE JUST BEING A BABY!"

"AM NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

Obviously, that was Axel, Larxene, and Demyx arguing. Then we heard the musical buzzing of bees in the vicinity. And the mischievous rabbit was laughing loudly at the bear that had a hive stuck on his nose.

"How did he ever fall in a pickle like that?"

"Who knows."

We passed through many more depictions of a happy "woodsy" life of the animals. But then we heard a sorrowful rabbit and a few other animals saying to beware of foxes.

"Is something bad going to happen?"

"Probably…"

Then we started climbing up. We spotted a few vultures say that the rabbit will soon find his "laughing place". Then we spotted the rabbit being all tied up with a fox silhouette overshadowing him. Then we spotted a BIG drop.

"Zexion-kun! This drop is scary!"

"I agr--EEEEEE!"

And we went down the drop with ear-piercing screams. I was closing my eyes shut and I was holding onto the inside rails of the boat. Due to the steep downhill grade and my lightweight-ness, I was slowly rising from my seat in the duration of the drop. We finally got to the bottom with a REALLY big splash that got both of us soaking wet.

"Zexion-kun! We survived!"

"Of course we did."

We entered the mountain one last time, to be greeted by a bunch of singing and dancing animals that were on a steamboat. When we looked in other directions, an alligator was chasing the fox and the bear.

"That looks so funny!"

"Sure…"

"Where do you think the rabbit went?"

"I don't know."

"Hey look!"

We looked over at another part of the ride, and it showed the rabbit laughing happily.

"I guess he really did find his laughing place."

"I agree, Zexion-kun!"

We came back to the departing area and got off the ride. We went to a room with pictures showing up. I looked for a picture of the others, and I got one. Roxas, Demyx, and Axel were all at the front. Roxas was covering his mouth, Demyx was covering his eyes, and Axel was covering his ears. Larxene was holding on to the boat tightly, Marluxia was holding his arms out and it looked as if he was laughing, and Vexen was covering his face with his arms to avoid getting wet.

"That picture looks so funny! We should get it for them!"

"Alright…"

"Hey! I can't find ours!"

I looked along the pictures, but there was one frame that said _"Sorry, your picture was washed away."_

"I think it would've been a nice photo…"

"I think we should go look for the others!"

We walked to a nearby desk and purchased the picture. And then we started looking for the others.

"Were do you think they went?"

"I don't know…"

"Hey! Over here!"

I spotted everyone dripping wet, not far from the ride's exit. Everyone seemed content, except Vexen. I wondered why.

"Hey! Did you guys get our picture?!" Demyx asked.

"Yup! It's right here!" And Xunakiy handed Demyx the photo.

"I told you it would be an awesome photo!" Axel boasted to Larxene.

"Oh, shut up!"

Roxas took a glance at the picture, and he said, "Vexen do you want to go on the ride again sometime soon?"

"No way!"

"I'd have to say that was fun, but my yukata is dripping wet!" Marluxia butted in.

"Let me take care of that!" Demyx said. He took out his sitar and he strum a few strings, which made our clothes instantly dry.

"Arigato, Demyx-senpai!"

"No problem!"

"Um…guys…I'm hungry…" Roxas said.

For some unknown reason, all eight of our stomachs growled loudly as if it was a chorus.

"Yeah. We should go eat…" Xunakiy added. And everyone agreed.

* * *

We went to a restaurant that Xunakiy picked. She said that she had passes for that also. We chose a table that was outside, on a second level. And the view was fantastic.

"This view is so cool!" Larxene yelled out, making an echo.

"I'll say! You can hear your own voice many times over!" Axel shouted in agreement.

"Hey, Axel, can I ask you something?" Roxas asked.

"Go ahead."

"You two are agreeing so much. Could it be that you two _like_ each other?"

"…"

"…?"

"NO WAY!!" Axel and Larxene shouted in unison.

"If you didn't notice…" Vexen started. "You two are actually causing a scene." The trio looked around and they started shrinking out of embarrassment.

"Hey! Guys! I got our food!" Xunakiy yelled.

We all got pizza.

"That looks and smells delicious!" Marluxia said with a watering mouth.

"I'm pretty sure everyone else agrees." Demyx commented.

"Time to dig in!" Axel added.

* * *

"Full…my stomach is so full…" Axel and Larxene chanted. Roxas started snickering, and he got a fire and lightning beat-down from them.

Everyone was bloated and content with their lunch. While Roxas, Axel, and Larxene were fighting each other, Demyx, Vexen, and Marluxia took naps in their seats.

"Zexion-kun!"

"What is it?"

"Whaddya wanna talk about? We need to start up a conversation to pass the time."

"I don't know…"

"Oh…"

I thought about it, and then I chose a topic.

"Why does everyone treat you so nicely here?" I asked.

"Well, almost everyone who works here is a friend of mine!"

"I can see that."

"I used to visit them whenever they could. They started being so nice to me because I was the only person who kept them company during their shifts."

"Why did you start coming here?"

"I started coming here because…I never liked my home."

"Why?"

"Because…my family was never together from the beginning. You see, I actually had a twin, and after my twin brother was born, our mother died. My father actually committed suicide shortly after."

"How would you know of all this?"

"My big brother told me. I was the middle child. Nii-san loved our parents, and they loved him back. When he was told that he was going to have a new brother and sister, he was so happy. But he was never able to meet my younger brother because another family adopted him. I only had nii-san, and nii-san only had me. So, we were close siblings even though we had an eight-year difference."

"How did you get separated?"

"Huh?"

"Well, if you weren't separated, you would've started looking for him by now, right?"

"Oh. About that…I ended up being adopted too. I was only five, but I still remember him. I hoped that living with a new family wouldn't be so bad, but I was wrong. I ended up living in a family that needed an heir. So, as an heir, I barely had any freedom. I had to get straight A's in school, or they would end up hurting me."

"…"

"I started running off on my own when I turned thirteen, and I ended up finding this place. I quickly made friends with everyone, and before I knew it…I had a true family. I had that loving warmth for about two years before…"

"You became one of us."

"Yes."

"…"

"Oh no! I must've made you feel sad! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"

"No! You don't have to fret!"

"I…don't?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay…. So…what's your past like?"

"My past isn't as painful as yours."

"It isn't?"

"Nope. My parents also died shortly after I was born. Several strangers took me in, but when they died, I had to live alone. I was a semi-nomadic person, meaning I wandered the world many times over."

"…"

"I looked through the trash of other people—not to look for food—but to just read books they threw out. They were usually books that were higher than my reading level, but I understood them anyway. Several times, my 'bookworm'-ness had caught the attention of kids who were bigger than me."

"What did they do, Zexion-kun?"

"They beat me up." And as soon as she heard that, she gasped. "You don't have to get all upset about it! I got used to it, and I eventually learned how to fend for myself using hard-cover books."

"…"

"When I turned…damn it! I lost count. Anyway…a man people referred to as 'Ansem the Wise' took me in, and he treated me as if I was his son. After becoming an apprentice of his, I met the other five."

"Other five?"

"Yeah. Xehanort, Braig, Dilan, Even, and Aeleus. They were actually the 'others' of Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, and Lexaeus." Xunakiy turned around to look at a napping academic. "We all had rough beginnings, but we eventually eased up and treated each other as a family. I even made the suggestion of putting our laboratory underground. But when Ansem the Wise met a stranger who came from another world, he started running experiments on the heart."

"Where did that lead to?"

"Well, as his apprentices, we took part in conducting experiments also. Even when our leader wanted us to stop, Xehanort persuaded us to keep going. But…look where that got us."

"It must've been hard."

"Huh?"

"To choose between the decisions of a brother and a father. It must not have been easy to make the decision yourself."

"Don't sweat it! If I never became a nobody, I never would've met you!" That was actually a slip of the tongue.

"Really?"

"Well…um…yeah."

"Thank you, Zexion-kun."

I noticed that whenever she said my name, she always added "kun" to it. When she was referring to anyone else, she said either "senpai" or "sensei". Was there a reason behind it? But before I could ponder it some more, I heard Vexen, Demyx, and Marluxia getting up and the trio in a three-way wrestling match had stopped fighting.

"All right…" Demyx yawned. "What ride are we going to next?"


	7. Dreamland Park Part 3

Part 7

We just went through a train ride gone out of control, and we also went on a carousel. We are now in the "fantasy" section of the park. Most of the rides that we saw here are mostly rides for little kids, but Larxene wanted to do just one of them.

"Why do you want to ride this one?" Axel asked her.

"It looks…fun."

"That doesn't sound like something you would say!"

"Did you think I was just a sour and sadistic being!?"

"In a way…"

"I'm gonna—"

"Onee-chan…" And Xunakiy walked over to her. "If you don't stop hurting people when you get mad at them, you're gonna have to take up anger management classes!"

"You got lucky this time, flame boy."

"Whatever…"

We fell in line and listened to overlapping music as the ride went on. The ride itself was sixteen oversized and spinning teacups. They were all colorful with unique designs on each of them, which seemed to wow Xunakiy as she observed them.

"Don't they look beautiful when they're spinning, Zexion-kun?" Xunakiy asked me.

"Hmm?"

"All of them are so colorful! They all look like a spinning rainbow!"

"Mm-hmm. I guess you're right."

The ride suddenly stopped and whoever was riding got out and exited the ride. There were too many people in line, so we each had to group in with each other. Xunakiy, Marluxia, and Vexen, and I on one. And Axel, Larxene, Roxas, and Demyx on the other.

"This is going to be so fun!" Marluxia cheerfully stated.

"I'm not so sure…" Vexen said back.

"Have some fun, Vexen-sensei! You might even enjoy yourself on this ride!" Xunakiy stated.

"What she said." I agreed.

The ride started with the operator asking us to turn the wheel in the middle of the cup. Of course, Marluxia and Xunakiy started turning it.

"Why does the wheel have to be so heavy?"

"So it'll be more of a challenge for us, Marluxia-senpai!"

"Righty-O!"

We were starting out slowly, at first. But when the wheel seemed to get lighter, the cup started spinning so fast that me and Vexen had to hold onto the sides of the cup.

"Join us, Vexen!"

"You too, Zexion-kun!"

"Fine!" And Vexen started spinning the wheel also, making it turn faster. Before I knew it, I joined in also.

"This is so much fun!" Xunakiy shouted.

"I think this is going to make me barf…" Vexen murmured.

"Shut up and turn!" I demanded.

"You shut up!" Vexen angrily replied.

The ride was so fast I could hardly see anything outside of our teacup besides blurs. Both Marluxia and Xunakiy were having a good time, which was evident because of their laughter. Before I could have some time to laugh, the ride stopped.

* * *

"Thatwassomuchfun!" Demyx said quickly while jumping up and down.

"Calm down, Demyx!" Axel shouted.

"WhatifIdon'twantto!?"

"What?"

"WhatifIdon'twantto!?"

"You know what!? Just shut up!"

Something was wrong with Demyx at this point. Perhaps it was because he ate too many sweets before the ride started. All that sugar would either be turned into fat, or would have to be burned off energy. I guess it was the later one. On a side note, Vexen was throwing up, like he said he would.

"Vexen-sensei! Daijobu!?"

"No…" And he vomited again. "Can I sit out the next ride?…" And he vomited one more time.

"Oka—"

"Youcan'tsitoutthenextride! Weneedyoutocomplainaboutthequalityoftheride! Becauseit'ssofuntohearyoucomplain! Woohoohoo!" At this stage, Demyx had gotten completely out of control and started running around us in circles.

"Demyx-senpai! Oh no…"

"What?" I asked.

"It seems he's gotten a sugar rush, and sugar rushes don't wear off for at least half an hour."

"Let me handle this…" Larxene said. No doubt she was going to electrocute him.

"Okay…"

Larxene casually took out her knives and the sky darkened. Then Demyx was electrocuted from a lightning bolt. The good news was that Demyx was knocked out, while the bad news was that the lightning had caused all the people in the vicinity to panic. Roxas clapped silently.

"If it takes one lightning bolt to knock him out, then it should take another one to wake him up!"

"Don't do that!" Xunakiy objected.

"Why?"

"Because lightning shouldn't strike the same place twice."

"…"

"Let me do this!"

"What will you do?"

"You'll see…"

With those words, Xunakiy pinched the empty space between Demyx's shoulder and neck and he woke up immediately.

"Oooooowwwwccchh!" Demyx said with a lethargic tone.

"Daijobu?"

"What does that mean?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeeessss…"

"Let's go to the next ride now! No wait…" I guess she thought about Vexen.

"I'll just wait for the next ride to stop and for you guys to catch up."

"But you're going to have to let you miss out on all the fun…"

"Don't worry about me!" Vexen said in an upbeat tone. "So long as you are happy!"

"Thank you so much!"

* * *

We got to a big mountain, much bigger than the water ride. It was snow-capped, and it had tunnels curving in and out. The seven of us filed in, and waited. Sometime in the ride, it started to rain. Good thing, the line queue was shaded.

"I HATE the rain!" Axel complained.

"I hate the rain too, but you don't see me whining like a baby."

"Be quiet."

Larxene smiled to that comment.

"Zexion-kun?" Xunakiy asked me. "What do you do for rainy days?"

"I don't know."

"You don't do anything for rainy days?"

"Not that I remember."

"You know what I used to do—"

"We can tell scary stories while we're waiting!" Demyx shouted.

"AAAAAIIIII!" Xunakiy screamed.

"Are you okay, Xunakiy-chan?"

"Yes…wait! You called me '-chan!'"

"Mm-hmm! I went a couple of times to the library, and I wondered why you were adding these weird name endings, so I looked in a book that had 'honorifics' and I knew what to call you now!"

"That's so thoughtful of you!"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Scary story?" The used-to-be wrestling trio all asked.

"We're going to be telling scary stories!" Demyx replied. "I got one!"

"Go ahead and tell it, Demyx-senpai!"

"Okay! _It was a sweltering hot summer afternoon, and dying of thirst, a young man went into the kitchen. He wanted to just collapse, until he found a recently poured glass of iced-tea. Thinking it was a gift from heaven, he drank it all in one gulp…"_

"And then what happened?" Xunakiy asked.

"_He was content with his short drink, but he stood as still as a statue when he found out about the dark deed he had committed. Because he saw, at the bottom of the glass, was…"_

"Was…?"

"_A single black cockroach of a large size!"_

"…"

"…?"

"THAT WAS THE SCARIEST STORY IV'E EVER HEARD!" Larxene and Xunakiy both screamed.

Axel and Demyx both high-fived each other, and I think Axel would've done the same to Roxas, except Roxas was actually cringing in fear right beside the girls.

"Roxas!" Axel yelled. "What are you doing!?"

"That story WAS scary, Axel!"

"No it wasn't!"

"It scared Larxene." And Roxas was pointing to her.

"Good point."

"It's our turn to ride!" Marluxia shouted in all of our ears.

"That hurt flower-boy!"

"Says you."

"I'll burn you!"

"If you didn't notice…" And Marluxia stuck his hand out in the rain. "You can't combust anything when it's this humid!"

"I hate you…"

"Guys!" Xunakiy yelled. She was pointing to our empty "bobsled".

We all climbed in our vehicle. It was supposed to be seated for eight, but Vexen wasn't with us. Roxas was in the front, then Xunakiy, then me, and then Demyx in the first connected car. Then it was Larxene, Axel, and Marluxia in the second connected car.

"Axel-senpai! Are you okay with the rain?" Xunakiy asked him while turning her head around.

"I think I am!" Axel shouted back.

The rides started with the usual thrust and we went into a dark tunnel. It accelerated in a matter of five seconds. All of us were screaming and waving our hands around in the same amount of time.

"THIS IS AWESOME!!" Most of us yelled out.

The ride had many short drops and blasts of cold air. We still couldn't see at most points, but that left us a pretty amazing view of the entire park, even if it was raining.

"Never mind the rain!…" Axel shouted.

"…this ride is the best we've ridden so far!" Larxene finished.

"I knew you guys would like the visit to this place!" Xunakiy yelled.

"Hell yeah!" We all screamed. I'm not sure if I said that too.

When we entered another tunnel, there were quick, bright flashes that illuminated two large and frightening snow monsters.

"EEEEEKK!" We all screamed.

We went in between them, and we went outside once again to enter a bigger drop than all the other ones.

"Holy CRAP!!" Most of us yelped at the sight of it.

When we went down the steep hill, everyone screamed one last time as we landed in a shallow pool of water that got some of us wet. We got back to the ride boarding station. But, it was surprisingly empty.

"I wonder where everyone went." Marluxia questioned.

"Hey! Mr. Hero!" A familiar voice shouted our way. It was Daiki, the kid I saved from the haunted house ride.

"What's up, kid." I greeted.

"There's something I need to tell you!"

"What?"

"The man with the big blue shield got kidnapped by those weird creatures from before!"

"Oh no!" We all yelled.

"Vexen-sensei…" Xunakiy said sadly.

"Don't worry." I said. "We'll get him back."

"You have to rescue all the other people who were kidnapped also!" Daiki shouted.

"You're serious?"

"Yup-yup!"

"Okay. Let's go!" Axel shouted.

* * *

"If I was a kidnapper, where would I put my hostages?" Marluxia asked himself.

"Somewhere inconspicuous." I replied.

"What's in-kon-spi-qulous?" Demyx asked.

"Something that won't be noticed, bubble brain." Larxene angrily answered.

"Stop arguing, you two, we need to find the hostages." Axel told us.

"You mean 'we' as in all of us except you, right?" Roxas asked Axel.

"Right you are my spiky-haired friend!"

All of us groaned as we went on to the "futuristic" section of the park. Everyone was going about his or her business, but an attraction that was supposed to be some sort of theater was closed off, with guards at stations.

"That must be where everyone is being held." Xunakiy whispered.

"Looks like it." Axel agreed.

"But why are there guards?" Roxas asked.

"I read that heartless can look like regular people and then strike when it' most convenient." I answered.

"That explains it."

"How are we going to get in without causing too much of a scene?" Xunakiy asked. "If we start attacking those human imposters, we'll be on a 'Wanted' List."

"You're right…"

"I know!" Larxene called out. "But I'm going to need Demyx's help."

We all heard the plan in a huddle, and it was a pretty good idea. While performing some sort of munny-grabbing street act, Demyx would play his sitar to keep the people distracted, while at the same time, drawing rainwater to the guards. Larxene would use a spark of electricity to travel on the electricity-conducting water on the ground so she would destroy the guards inconspicuously. Then we would get in the theater without so many people noticing.

"Ready…set…go!" Larxene signaled.

Demyx ran to the middle of the block and yelled out. Pretty soon he had everyone's attention. Everything was going according to plan. Larxene quickly killed off the heartless.

"Demyx! Let's…go?" Axel yelled. Demyx was too tied up with his street act, so we had to leave him behind.

* * *

"It's so dark in here." Marluxia commented.

It was VERY dark. Without any light, the theater was pitch-black. Luckily, Axel had provided us with a few flames for lighting. It didn't take us very long to find them, because every hostage was tied up, gagged, and sitting in the folding seats.

"Vexen-sensei! Are you here!?" Xunakiy yelled. Immediately, we heard a muffled yell.

We all rushed over to his seat and untied him.

"Couldn't you defeat heartless by yourself?" Marluxia asked him.

"There were hoards of them!"

"Riiight…" Axel commented.

"I'm serious! And you're not going to believe what else I saw! There were also lesser nobodies assisting the heartless!"

"How can that be!?"

"I don't know, but we have to get out of here!"

"What about all of these people, Vexen-sensei?"

"We'll focus on that too…"

We got straight to work and freed every single one of the hostages.

"I'd say that today was fun!" Xunakiy announced. "Let's go home soon!"

"I think we're all fine with that." Vexen replied.

We walked through the futuristic area, eyeing everything we could. It all seemed interesting to us, especially Vexen. Then there was a big rocket ship that made mist spew out from the bottom. I lagged behind because I was so tired for some reason. I nearly collapsed when I reached the rocket.

"Hey guys wait up!" I yelled.

* * *

I was about to get back up, but then, the mist turned into a waterfall.

"Zexion-kun!" I heard Xunakiy scream.

The water was so heavy, and I couldn't breathe. I was practically choking on all the water. I tried to stick out my hand, but the pressure wouldn't let me. I thought I was going to die there, so I started to close my eyes…

"Zexion-kun!" And then I felt someone's hand on mine. "Don't give up!"

Xunakiy was still there for me. I heard her yelling out for everyone else to help, and pretty soon, I was being dragged out of the waterfall.

"Don't die here, bookworm!"

"You can't die like this!"

"We'll get you out of there!"

Those were all the voices I heard. I was happy with the fact that everyone cared about me, but I couldn't take it anymore. I blacked out.

* * *

I woke up with a few coughs and a gasp.

"Yatta! You're awake!" Xunakiy yelled.

"Xunakiy-chan was worried you wouldn't wake up again." Vexen said. "So to make sure you wouldn't die, she—"

"Gave you mouth to mouth!" Demyx finished.

Xunakiy gave me CPR?! As soon as I heard that I covered my mouth and blushed.

"If it's not too much trouble…CAN WE GET OUT OF THE RAIN!?" Axel yelled.

"AAAHH! I'M SO SORRY! IF WE ALL GET COLDS, SHISHOU WILL GET MAD AT US, AND I'LL HAVE RUINED YOUR LIFE!!" Xunakiy had another apology fit.

"Calm down, Xunakiy!" Larxene shouted.

"GAAH! NOW I'M MAKING EVERYONE FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE!"

"Xunakiy, you're going to have to quit this if you want things to get better." I told her.

"Okay."

"Now let's get out of the rain."

* * *

Xunakiy had ordered some coffee for us at a nearby restaurant. Nobody else was actually in there, and we were all as cozy as you could get on a rainy day.

"I like coffee, but I prefer the hot chocolate that you prepared for us before your first mission." Vexen commented.

"Thank you, Vexen-senpai!"

"She made hot chocolate? When?" Axel asked.

"Oh! Apparently, Saix-senpai knocked you out before I could give you some. Heh."

"Oh. I remember now…"

"Umm…I think I ordered a drink with some alcohol, where did it go?" Marluxia questioned.

"Who cares?" Larxene replied.

"Umm…I think it would be in everyone's best interests if someone underage didn't drink."

"Yeah! Remember that time on Valentine's Day, when you and Zexion-san beat up Xigbar and Larxene!" Demyx added.

"I still remember that clearly…" Larxene said.

"I'm sorry…" Xunakiy apologized.

"Don't sweat it kiddo! It wasn't your fault, after all."

"Anyone seen Roxas?" Axel asked.

"I'm over here…" Roxas said.

We looked over to where Roxas' voice was coming from. Roxas had actually been sitting at a different table. I wonder why.

"Roxas! What are you doing over there?!" Axel yelled.

"Meow!"

"What the—!?"

"I'm a cat! So I have to meow!"

"What are you saying!?"

I looked at what Roxas had been drinking, and it was actually Marluxia's alcohol. Everyone was looking very confused before they spotted it also.

"Meow! Meow! Meow!"

"Shut up with that damn meowing!" Larxene yelled.

"But I'm a cat!"

"No you aren't!"

"Yes I am! Oh yeah! I have to chase rat-boy over there!" Roxas started pointing at me, and I was scared stiff. "Meow!" And he pounced on me.

I dodged his attack, but then he started leaping at me on all fours.

"Roxas-senpai! Stop!"

"Meow!"

"Roxas! Stop chasing the bookworm!"

"But I'm a cat! And cats have to chase rats! Meow!"

When it was starting to get out of hand, I just took out my book, and trapped him in there.

"Nice work, Zexion-kohai!" Vexen commented while clapping.

"Thanks."

"Meow! I want to get out of this thing! Meow!" I heard Roxas yell out from between the pages.

"Shut up!" Axel and Larxene yelled.

* * *

It was already dark outside by the time the rain stopped. And Roxas was suffering from a hangover when I let him out of the book.

"I feel terrible…"

"That's what you get when you get your hands on alcohol!" Marluxia yelled.

"Not so loud…"

"LA LA LA LA!!"

"Shut up dammit—ow…"

"Marluxia-senpai…please don't aggravate his hangover…"

"He's the one who took my alcohol!"

"So loud…voices booming…"

"You need sour pickled plums!"

"Wha…?"

"But let's do it after the fireworks!"

"So loud…"

* * *

Xunakiy led us to a large lake with an island in the middle, and she said that this was the best spot to see the fireworks. We weren't the only ones there though. It was very crowded and we had to huddle together to make sure we didn't lose sight of each other.

"When will the fireworks start?" Demyx asked.

"In a couple of minutes…" Xunakiy replied.

In a couple of minutes, it did start. It started off with a few small fireworks, but then they started to get bigger and brighter. All of were amazed.

"It looks so cool!" Larxene stated. She had sounded like an immature child.

"This is the first time you've seen a fireworks display?" Axel asked.

"You bet!"

"No wonder…"

There were many different kinds of fireworks, there were the regular ones, and then there were the kinds that exploded, split up, and exploded all over again, and there were also fireworks that did fantastic twirls. All of them were very colorful. And throughout it all, we heard the music that was being played throughout each of the rides we rode.

"Zexion-kun! This is amazing, isn't it?"

"Oh. Umm…yeah."

"C'mon! Tell me what you really think about this!"

"Well…I'd have to say that it's very well thought out and that the explosions are accurately sequenced with the music."

"That was well said!"

"It also looks very beautiful."

"Mm-hmm."

I would've said it was beautiful like her, but I couldn't do that. We were still nobodies and we would never be in a relationship unless we got our hearts back. And that wouldn't happen in a long time.

The fireworks display lasted for about ten minutes, and when it stopped, we all exited the park, and went back to the castle.

* * *

"Well, that was fun, right?" Xunakiy asked us.

"You bet it is!" Demyx said while giving thumbs up.

"Maybe we should do stuff like this more often, don't you think so too, Axel?" Larxene added.

"Yeah, sure, whatever…I'm just a little tired."

"That's what happens when you walk for a long time!" Xunakiy shouted. "Oh yeah! Roxas! The pickled plums are in the fri—" Xunakiy stopped talking and just stood there.

"Xunakiy-chan? Are you alright?" Vexen asked.

A few moments later, she had collapsed in my arms.


	8. The World of Teien Part 1

Part 8

"How could they not come back!?" I shouted.

"I don't know…but…" Vexen started.

"But what?"

"There is an upside."

"What upside?"

"I asked for Xemnas' permission, and he said that you and I could search for them."

"…"

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that…Xemnas isn't on good terms with you. I'm surprised he let you have his permission."

"Well, I don't know either, but when I mentioned you, he agreed to it."

"You know what? Never mind about it. Where did Larxene and Xunakiy go?"

"They went to a world where Xunakiy had noticed a large number of people falling into comas. Xunakiy had said that she frequently visited that world before and she was getting worried."

"She always seemed fine whenever I saw her."

"The point is, yesterday, after you'd gone to sleep, she tried offering up the mission to Xemnas. And he actually agreed to it."

"Let's just focus on getting there."

"Okay."

I decided to think about what Vexen was talking about. Why did Xemnas agree to Vexen's proposal only after he mentioned me? And why did Xunakiy not tell me about this and go off like that? I thought I was thinking too much.

* * *

"Zexion! Would you like to do the honors?" Vexen asked.

"Sure." And I opened up a portal to Xunakiy's world. But getting there was surprising.

"AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!!" We both screamed. Instead of stepping safely on the ground, we were falling from the sky.

"Zexion! Try using your book to save us!" Vexen yelled out to me.

"Okay!" I waved my arm around, but nothing was coming.

"What's wrong!?"

"I can't bring out my book!"

"I'll try using my ice, then." He waved his arm around too, but his shield didn't appear. "What the heck is with this place!?"

We didn't have time to contemplate, because we landed on the ground with a crash. Luckily, we landed in a tree filled with flowers.

"That was close, wasn't it?" Vexen asked me.

"I'll say."

"What did you two do to my tree!?" Someone yelled.

"Oh, crap…" It was apparent that we had knocked out most of the flowers from the tree's branches. And with its look, it seemed as if autumn came early this year. The person who yelled at us, had short blue hair, and wore a white blouse with a dark blue skirt.

"Who are you!? And why did you have to ruin my tree!?" The girl demanded.

"It isn't our fault we fell from the sky!" Vexen yelled back. Everyone fell silent.

"You fell too…"

"Have you seen two others do this!?" I yelled.

"As a matter of fact, it was one month ago. Two young women fell from the sky, wearing uniforms that looked like yours. You know what? You should get inside my house."

* * *

Her house was small, according to our host, but to us, it seemed pretty big. It was large and wooden, with sliding doors, and a garden you can walk by when you walk on an outdoor hallway.

"This is such a cozy place! I wish we could stay at a place like this!" Vexen happily yelled.

"It is, isn't it? Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Aiko Seno!"

"Our names are—"

"If you're new here, you have to register your names with the record keeper who lives near the city hall."

"Do we have to?"

"Yes, if you are to earn Saku, which is our currency. Otherwise, it's simply a matter of doing community service."

"I guess we have to." Vexen added.

--

We walked in the direction of the village, and kept everything quiet.

"So, our nobody powers don't exactly work in this world…"Vexen said as he contemplated.

"That's about right…"

"So how are we supposed to defend ourselves?"

"Maybe they have a weapon shop?"

"That's a possibility—Huh?" We both felt a certain presence behind us. When we turned around, it was gone. But when we turned around again, monsters appeared.

"How convenient!" Vexen yelled. We were surrounded. Surprisingly, they weren't heartless, because they didn't have the heartless insignia, or the beady yellow eyes that shadows and other heartless had. They were just darkly colored. The majority of them were black though. "This would've been a great time to scream, 'RUN FOR YOUR LIVES', but unfortunately, we don't even have any room to run."

"This sucks a lot! On our first hour, we're already attacked!"

"Get down!" I heard a feminine voice call out. IT wasn't our missing comrades, but I was just glad that we were getting rescued. "Aero!" She yelled. A vortex of wind suddenly appeared above us and sucked all the monsters inside. When they came back down, most of them had already been destroyed. "Your turn!"

Then we heard a male voice shout out something, and with another flash, all the remaining monsters were destroyed.

"Are you two new here, by any chance?" The first voice asked. She had shoulder-length orange hair, and had a short blue dress with thigh-high brown boots.

"Of course they are, Refia." The second voice answered. He was blonde, and held a similarity to Roxas. But he was sterner, and was dressed almost completely in red.

"Oh, Ingus! I'm trying to be nice!"

"Refia and Ingus are your names. Thank you for saving our lives." I said to them.

"Don't mention it!"

"To make sure you two newcomers aren't killed on your first day in the country of Teien, we shall escort you to the city."

"So, that's the name of this country?" I asked.

"Yup! The country of Teien is known for its never-ending season of spring! It also has the most beautiful varieties of flowers! Oh yeah, there's no need for manners. That's what I ran away from!" Refia said with a smile.

"And what I was forced away from…" Ingus added.

"I can't believe you actually liked living in royalty!"

"I can't believe you disliked it."

"Hey! We're supposed to be escorting you!" Refia shouted at us. They were too busy arguing to notice us walk away.

* * *

After a few minutes of passing through flowery pink fields, Vexen decided to break the silence.

"What were those monsters that attacked us?"

"Oh! Those monsters don't go by any particular name. They are called by many names. There's oni, akuma, kiji, fiends, or we can just call them plain 'monsters'" Refia answered

"I'm guessing they were weak monsters, if they had to swarm in on us like that…" I added.

"Very perceptive." Ingus commented. "They were Go-level."

"Level?" Vexen and I asked.

"Monsters here go by levels!"

"The strongest and rarest variety is Ichi while the weakest and most common variety is Ju."

"In each level there five smaller levels in them. And the monsters we just faced ranged from Go-4 to Go-2."

"So, the highest would be Ichi-1 while the weakest would be Ju-5?" I asked.

"You got it." They both replied.

"And we are the people who hunt monsters down for profit!" Refia cheered.

"We are simply called 'Hunters' to not cause any confusion."

"How about it?" Vexen asked me. "Becoming a Hunter would probably be a good profession for you."

"I guess…"

"It is a good profession for you!" Refia shouted.

"Huh?"

"Let me explain." Ingus started. "The monsters here actually attack strong people or those who have potential. So, if they attacked you and your friend, it means you two could possible be good Hunters."

"That would be interesting…"

* * *

When we got to the city, it looked a lot like Xunakiy's home world except the buildings looked very old and most of them still looked wooden. It was bustling and very busy, but I guessed it would always stay that way, due to the street only having shops. It was easy to tell which shop was which even though we couldn't read the language, because of icons. One for weaponry, a café, etc…

"As of now, you are officially in the city of Renhi of the country of Teien!" Refia announced.

"The city hall is at the end of the main street. See that large circular building over there?" Ingus said as he pointed.

"Yes, we see perfectly. Thank you for all your help." Vexen thanked them.

"If you need weapons, go to the weapon shop on the right side at the far end of the street." Ingus directed. "If fate allows it, we will meet again. Farewell…" And the both of them walked off.

"They seemed like nice people, but their personalities contrast…" Vexen commented. "Oh! Similar to you and Xunakiy-chan!"

"Shut up."

* * *

We headed over to the city hall, and it was much bigger inside than what it looked like on the outside.

"Hello!" Someone called in our direction. We turned, and she was at the front desk. But she looked too young to have a certain job like this at city hall. She was fairly short, and had brown hair and glasses. We walked over.

"I am Hazuki Fujiwara! Are you two new to Teien?" She asked us.

"Yes we are." Vexen said. "Is this where we register our names?"

"It sure is! Just put your names on this sheet of paper, and we will add you to our files!"

"Okay…" And Vexen wrote something on the paper. I couldn't see though.

"Thank you for registering! Now, what would be your profession?"

"We would like to be Hunters."

"Okay! Now here is your debit card!" And she handed us some sort of flower shaped plastic card. "You will need this to hold En. Whenever you defeat monsters here, you will be awarded Saku for your hard work. But to actually defeat monsters, you will need to purchase weapons at our weapon shop, which I'm pretty sure you've already passed by."

"Yes we have. Thank you for all your help."

"But you still need to get yourself a home!"

"I'm afraid we're already staying with someone named Aiko Seno. Do you know her?"

"Of course I do! We're good friends!"

"Oh well, thank you for your help."

"Your welcome! Oh, can you say hello to Aiko for me! Thank you!"

As we walked off, Vexen whispered to me, "That girl was creepy."

* * *

We decided to walk over to the weapon shop, as we were advised, and walked inside. The shop had a wide variety of items. It had swords, knives, guns, fans…basically they had every weapon you could imagine that hung on the wall. And it was very silent and very dark.

"Hellooooooo!" Vexen yelled. "Anyone home?"

Our only response was the ground opening out from beneath us. Instinctively, we both leapt to the side.

"What was that about?" I asked.

Then for some reason, the swords hanging on the wall came to life and started swinging at us. The only way I could defend myself was to dodge them, but I kept getting cut up every few seconds.

"What is with this store!?" Vexen yelled. "How come the merchandise wants to kill you!? This is very bad business!"

"Try finding an unpossessed item and fight back!" I shouted.

"I can't find a shield in this store!"

"Try using something different!"

I tried jumping to different corner of the shop, but they just came at me full speed, and pinned me to the wall. I saw that Vexen was having a good time. He kept jumping out of the way and making it harder for the swords to get to him. Then he saw me.

"Are you all right!?"

"I've been better!"

I looked around to see what was in reach, but the only weapon was a sword. Seeing as I had no other choice, I grabbed it and pushed the swords off me by forcing them away by their hilts. Of course they retaliated. I had no experience with a sword, so I had trouble.

"When will they stop attacking!?" I yelled.

"I think we just need to hang on for a little bit longer!" Vexen answered.

I tried to parry, but when I did, another sword came at me. When I tried to block that one, the sword I parried comes at me again. How would I get myself out of this? But then I remembered how I've seen Xemnas fights—he waits and makes his enemy make the first move, and then he counterattacks without getting hit by a counterattack by the opponent.

"Okay…so I just got to wait—" I waited too long, and they managed to cut my wrist. I dropped my sword and tried to stop the blood, but the swords kept coming. I grabbed a different sword, but that one got knocked out of my hand.

"We need to get out of here!"

"You said it yourself! We have to hang on!"

"Are you crazy!?"

"How will we find Xunakiy and Larxene if we get killed by monsters out there!?"

There had to be a solution to this. I spotted a third sword, not too far away. But the swords would beat me there. But I didn't have any other bright ideas, so I made a dash for it.

"Watch out!"

I picked up the hilt and it felt different than the other swords. It was more balanced, and it felt light. I quickly knocked all the swords to the ground in a matter of seconds, and I managed to help Vexen out too.

"How did you do that?"

"I have no idea."

"Great show!" Two voices greeted us. They came out from behind a curtain leading to another room and bowed. Both of the girls had red hair and wore pink dresses. One was about three years older than the other one, but both of them were still young.

"Are you two the people who run this weaponry?" Vexen asked them.

"We sure are!" The younger one shouted. "My name is Poppu! You can call me Pop!"

"And I'm Doremi! We are the sisters who manage this shop, and making all the weapons attack you was just a test. We can't have weaklings handle high-quality items like these!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

The older one stopped for a minute, and put two fingers to her chin. She started to look deep in thought. Then she looked towards me.

"Big sister, what's wrong?"

"Poppu, can you get the 'you-know-what' at the back?"

"You don't mean—" Doremi responded with a nod.

"Okay!" And Poppu disappeared behind the curtain.

"By using our test, we see what potential our customers in the way they battle. We pick out the weapon that's best for them and we give it to them. For you…" She pointed to Vexen. "You try not to get too caught up in battle and you can always plan a good strategy while staying a safe distance. We think you will be best with guns." And she actually took two guns right out from under the desk and handed it to Vexen.

"I've never handled a gun before." Vexen said. Pretty soon, he was seeing if he could aim straight.

"And what about me?" I asked.

"Your weapon is coming—" I heard a pretty loud bang, and I'm pretty sure a stack of fans toppled over.

"Sorry about that!"

Doremi sighed, and we both saw Poppu carry out a covered weapon. "I got them!"

"Them?" I asked.

Doremi simply handed me the weapon, and when I uncovered it, it was a sword. The sword many shades of gray on the sheath, while one side of the hilt was white and the other was black. It also had a gray steel wing attached by a short rope that was connected to the hilt.

"Do you like it?" The sisters asked.

I simply nodded.

"Our customer is speechless! High five, Onee-san!" Poppu shouted. The way that Poppu said 'Onee-san' reminded me of Xunakiy. I decided not to think about it.

"That weapon is actually a dual sword." Doremi pointed out. "It is said that the black half of the sword is made out of a pure black meteorite, and the white half was made out of the only spoil of battle from the monsters—a gleaming white fang. It is named 'Hakuro' because of its mixture of the colors white and black. Also known as haku and kuro."

"We are only supposed to give that sword out to someone who reeeeaally deserved it! And you deserved it!"

"So, what's our payment?" I asked.

"Seeing as this is you first time, we'll give you a discount! 2000 Saku please!" And she snatched away our debit card, placed it on a machine that was on top of the desk, pressed a few buttons, and she gave it back to us.

"Thank you." I said while bowing.

"No, thank you!" They said while waving goodbye to us.

* * *

We decided to try out our new weapons by seeking out monsters to kill. But we didn't find any luck, so we went back to Aiko's house.

"So, did you two have any fun on your short trip?" Aiko asked.

"A little…" Vexen replied. "Oh, by the way, a girl named Hazuki Fujiwara. She says hello."

"Oh, that was nice of her. What's that noise?"

We started hearing a low rumbling sound, and then it became louder and louder, until something shook the house.

"I'll go check what's out there." I said. I cautiously peered out the window, and a horde small rabbit-looking monsters were eating some vegetables out side of the window. Other than ruining a good vegetable garden, they looked harmless. "Hey, Aiko?"

"Yeah?"

"There are rabbit monsters outside and they're eating a vegetable patch. Is it yours by any chance?"

My only response was Aiko jumping through the window and bashing away the monsters with a nearby shovel. "Get away from my garden! I worked hard to grow these things and I did not go that far for it to be an afternoon snack!"

"Do you think we should help her out?" Vexen asked.

"Well she is giving us food and lodging."

"Ok."

We rushed outside, not by jumping out the window, and took out our new weapons.

"Let's see if I can aim right…" Vexen thought out loud.

"Let's see if we can actually get through these things!" I yelled. I took my sword out of its sheath, and immediately the rabbits stopped munching and turned all their small heads towards our direction.

"I-I'm just going t-to g-get inside." Aiko stammered. She ran back in through the door this time.

Suddenly, all the rabbits grew in size until they were about double our size.

"Do monsters normally do this?" Vexen asked.

"How should we know? We've only been here for less than a day."

The rabbits, now looking more like wolves started howling and the shockwaves they caused knocked both of us to the ground.

"How the heck do we fight these things!?" I shouted. I also put Hakuro back inside its sheath, figuring it wouldn't do much good in this battle.

"Hey! I have a plan!"

During the time that the wolves weren't howling at us, Vexen stroke up a plan with me. It was quite simple, really. When Vexen had spoken out all of it to me, we initiated it.

"Hey, over here!" I yelled, getting their attention. As expected they all turned, and they all charged. "Now!"

Vexen jumped right on top of my sword, and I used it to force him into the air. The wolves turned their heads up to look straight at him, which gave me a chance to attack them with my new weapon.

"YAAAAAAAHH!!" I shouted. I took out Hakuro one more time and in one swift strike, most of the wolves were sliced in half. Now with the wolves dumbstruck as to what just happened, Vexen used this chance to finish them all off.

"Yeah! We're awesome! And we didn't even get a scratch! This calls for some sake!" Vexen shouted.

"I'll say!" Said Aiko as soon as she walked out of the house. "They started out as Ju-1, but then they went all the way to Ni-4! You must be pretty good if you could defeat monsters that strong in your first day!"

We all suddenly heard someone clap not far away.

"Yeah! They were strong! And we're here…to see just how strong they really are!" Someone declared.

* * *

((First part of the story arc is done, whoopee. I admit that I suck at originality, and I constantly take ideas from other works. Seeing as this is a fanfic, I hope you will still read despite this. For those of you who play Final Fantasy III on the DS would know who Ingus and Refia are. And It's okay if you haven't heard of it though. Anyways, please keep reading and reviewing.))


	9. The World of Teien Part 2

Part 9

They walked over, and I got to see them. One was a girl, who had shoulder-length brown hair, one green eye, and one blue, and she wore a colorful furisode. Her partner had a more complicated outfit. He had some sort of black overalls with one of the legs cut short. He also had a small yellow jacket inside the overalls and his left sleeve looked very different from his right, and he also wore a thick armored glove on the same arm. He also had dirty blond hair.

"So, you two are the new Hunters, correct?" Asked the girl.

"Yes." I answered.

"Great!" Shouted the boy. "I like seeking out strong opponents, and based on your little demonstration there by defeating Ni levels, I have a feeling that you might be my new challenger in a LONG time!" Suddenly, a blue sword with a golden hilt appeared in his hand. "By the way, my name is Tidus!"

"And my name is Yuna."

"Ready or not…" He began to charge. "Here I come!" Instead of launching an attack at the both of us, he aimed just for me. "Take this!" He lunged at me with rapid swings, and I could barely dodge them.

In response to another attack, I jumped away and unsheathed my sword. "Say hello to Hakuro."

"Oh yeah, my sword's name is Caladbolg! Now stop alighting and start fighting!"

"Tidus, I don't think you should be rough housing like this…" I heard Yuna mutter.

"Yah!" Tidus yelled. He lunged at me once again, and this time, he came at me a lot faster than before. He was able to cut one cheek. "Gotcha now!"

"Not quite!" I shouted. "Earth Dragon, Circular Attack Dance!" I had no idea where I got the words, but my body took a certain fighting stance, and my sword moved on its own, creating shockwaves that knocked my new opponent far back into the ground.

"Grr…"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know—"

"Yaah—!" Tidus was about to charge at me again, but then a blast of wind had made him start levitating upside-down. "Hey! Put me down!" He struggled to look behind him, and then we both had exclamatory looks on our faces.

"Hello again!" Refia greeted.

"So, I guess you've met Tidus and Yuna." Ingus suggested.

"We did."

"Can you put me down now?!" Tidus yelled. Refia did as commanded, but he landed flat on his face in the dirt.

"Sorry about that!"

* * *

We all went inside to enjoy some snacks that Vexen prepared.

"This is so good! They all exclaimed while scarfing down cakes.

"Well, I try." Vexen replied.

"And you succeed." Yuna added.

"Tidus, can you explain why you attacked me?" I asked.

"I'm sorry about that." Tidus replied. "I just get so competitive sometimes. When I get wind that there's a new Hunter around, I just get so excited. I can't help but to find out whether or not they would make good opponents!"

"And that's usually what gets him in trouble…" Yuna said before biting down on a scone.

"Shuddup!" Tidus exclaimed. "Anyways, I got the news from Ingus and Refia here! They wanted me to say hello, but I guess I got carried away. I also asked the girl at the city hall to find out what your names were!"

"And they were…?" I anticipated.

"Little Bookworm and Big Bookworm!" Tidus shouted. Everyone stayed quiet, and they burst into laughter.

"Those were the funniest names I've ever heard!" Ingus managed to say. It seemed that even he could have a good sense of humor.

"Why the hell did you name us that!?" I yelled at Vexen.

"It seemed cute!"

"Cute my ass!"

Everyone had quickly calmed down. And Tidus struck up a conversation with me.

"So, Little Bookworm, how did you get your hands on a cool-looking sword like that?"

I didn't exactly like the name, but I guess I had to put up with it for as long as I didn't have my powers. "I got it from the weapon shop keepers Doremi and Poppu. They seemed annoying but they were all right."

"They actually gave you a sword like that on your first visit? They must see a lot of potential of you!"

"That's how they give their weapons out?"

"Yup! Caladbolg is another particularly strong sword in this country! More than once, people have actually tried to steal it from me! So you better watch out too!"

"I see…"

"You know what? I think we should fight again sometime soon! No holding back! Got it?"

"EH!?"

"C'mon! It'll be fun!"

"Okay. Our match will be sometime soon."

He started shaking my hand. "Uh huh! Well, it's been fun, but I'm afraid it's getting a little late!"

"It was nice meeting you two!" Yuna and Refia cheered.

"We'll be sure to meet again." Ingus added.

"G'bye!" Tidus shouted back to us as he waved and ran outside.

It really was growing late and the clouds glowed pink against an orange background in the light of the setting sun.

"Hey, Little Bookworm!" Vexen cheerfully said with a hand on my shoulder. "It's going to get dark soon, why don't we try going around for some information on our missing friends?"

"All right fine, Big Bookworm." I hoped it would annoy Vexen too, the way I said his nickname sarcastically, but it didn't surprise me when it didn't seeing as he was the one who came up with the names in the first place.

* * *

We walked around for about ten minutes, but for some reason, nobody (no pun intended) was there. When we decided to give up, we finally caught a glimpse of a man trying to look for a place that was still open.

"Excuse me!" Vexen yelled, trying to get his attention. "May we ask you something?"

"I'm sorry, I have to get somewhere safe!" He yelled.

"Don't worry, we're Hunters, you'll be safe as long as we're around!"

"You don't understand! Even the strongest Hunters are defeated by the monsters that roam at night!"

"When did they get this strong?" I shouted.

"They got this strong about two months ago! Please, you have to get somewhere safe!" He ran into an alley and disappeared out of sight.

"I guess we better heed his advice." Vexen said.

"Agreed."

We were walking away, but then we heard a loud scream, and it was that of the man of ten seconds ago.

"Holy crap! We better go check it out!"

We ran over to the alley, and when we found the man, he was wounded and not breathing. He was in a coma.

"What happened here!?" Vexen yelled.

Our response was a loud, intimidating growling sound. And then large red eyes appeared. They started to glow brighter and brighter, until they actually shout beams straight at us.

"Not more monsters!"

"We need to get this guy out of here!"

"What about us!?"

"Oh, right."

We did our best to avoid another laser eye beam, and drag the man's body. We ran for about ten minutes, still avoiding more blasts, and we spotted the only open building that we had in sight. Unfortunately…

"Let's try that place!" Vexen shouted.

"Vexen…IT'S A BAR, AND I'M UNDERAGED!" I yelled.

"Do you have any better ideas!"

We quickly dove through the door, and locked it. Good thing the place was empty, save for us, and two women.

"Howdy!" A young pony-tailed blonde woman greeted. She had a black skirt and vest, with a white blouse and a red tie. "It seems those monsters are getting a little rough out there! Welcome to Kuroba! The bar that's the pride of Teien! By the way, my name is Rikku!"

"Thank you for greeting, but this man needs some help." Vexen said.

"Oh…we lost another one."

"Huh?"

"There have been many cases of people falling into comas for the last two months. To shed some more light on this matter, let's turn to my partner!"

"Partner?" I asked.

"Yup! She's famous! Say hello to Miss Rinoa!" She pointed away to another woman who had long black hair and wore a slim blue dress. She seemed mature for her age.

"Thank you for the introduction, Rikku-san. I hope you don't mind if you prepare a gift basket for these gentlemen."

"No problem, Rin-chan!"

"I take it you're the singer of this bar." I said.

"That's right! But unknown to many people, I'm very good at keeping secrets of this country."

"Let's hear it then." Vexen said.

"Okay, just give me some of your money!"

Vexen proceeded to do so, but seeing as our starting amount of 5000 Saku had been quickly diminishing in only one day, Vexen was reluctant. We laid the comatose man over by the wall, and we all sat down.

"Okay, what do you want to know about these recent abnormalities in this world?" Lenalee asked.

"We would like to know all about the recent comas that have been happening lately." I answered.

"Okay." She started. "The first case of a coma had started two months ago, when a passerby found two wounded Hunters in a field. Shortly after that, more and more people have been falling victim to these attacks. And not just Hunters, even civilians have been attacked, which is unusual, because monsters only attack Hunters."

"I guess that is out of the ordinary." Vexen said while putting his hand to his chin.

"What else?" I asked.

"Well, all the monsters here rely on instinct. But they seem to be behaving strangely, an example being a weak level evolving into a stronger level. Which means that whatever the reason for their strange behavior is explained by someone controlling them. And it just so happens that I have seen that person."

"What does he look like?"

"I've only caught a simple glimpse, but he has silver hair in a short ponytail, and is almost always seen smiling."

"Thank you for all of your—"

"Did you happen to see two new Hunters, other than us? Both of them are girls, one of them has short blonde hair, while the other one has long hair that's snow-white!"

"I've seen them too."

"Where!?"

"Calm down! They are by far the most skilled Hunters we've seen in a long time. They make their home by a place called the Fun Flower District, which is northeast of here. Oh yes, I will not give out anymore information."

"The Fun Flower District?" Vexen said.

"Thank you for all your help." I said. We were about to leave, assuming it was safe, but then the bartender, Rikku had stopped us.

"You forgot your gift basket!" I remembered her say while placing it in Vexen's hands.

"Why, thank you! We've been in need of a good treat since we came here!"

* * *

Before going back to Aiko's, we went to the city hall to pick up our collection on killing off the vegetable eaters earlier today. And even though it was getting close to midnight, the city hall was still open, with Hazuki still at the main desk.

"I take it you're getting your payment of Saku for defeating those monsters, no?"

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Here at city hall, we monitor the movements of monsters and we can tell when they've been killed. We also track down Hunter movements to make sure Hunters won't take undeserved rewards."

"That was informative." Vexen commented.

Hazuki pressed a few buttons and gave us back the debit card.

I sighed. "Thank you."

"Your welcome!"

"Oh, can I change my registered name?"

"The only way you can change your name is to exit the world and enter again. But that means all your Saku will be gone, and you will have to earn it all over again!"

Once again I sighed, and we left the city hall and went back to Aiko's.

* * *

We went back home, with the gift basket in hands, and decided to open it up. We actually couldn't see what was in it, because of thick wrappings. And when we did…

"Woohoo!" Vexen shouted. I guessed that it would be heard all throughout the house.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's…it's…"

"It's what?"

"IT'S SAKE HEAVEN!" He shouted even louder than before. It was dreadfully true. It had at least four bottles of sake and liquor, and only one small box of sour pickled plums.

"Surprisingly, you're acting a lot more like the Freeshooter rather than a Chilly Academic."

Vexen ignored my comment and went on to opening up a bottle, poured it into a glass, and started drinking away. At first he seemed normal, but then he started smiling strangely. IT looked kind of creepy.

"This tastes so awesome!" Shouted Vexen. I think I spotted Aiko, but she didn't want to get involved, and then she walked away.

"Ve—I mean 'Big Bookworm', can you try to keep a straight mind! I can't believe you got drunk that fast!"

"But this tastes sooo GOOD!"

"Shut up, calm down, and SLEEP IT OFF!"

"I don't want to! Hey, you should loosen up, maybe you should have some too!"

"Don't you dare!"

He suddenly started chasing me around and jumping off of furniture.

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

"But you need some liquor!"

"I. DON'T. WANT. ANY."

"You'll want some more after you taste it!"

"No I won't!"

"You won't be sure until you taste it!"

"I'm as sure as my hair is blue!"

"But from here it looks purple!"

"Great…on top of it all, you're color blind."

"C'mon drink some!"

The process continued for about five more minutes, but then he cornered me in a sea of newly formed debris. But through it all, he kept drinking.

"Now you will finally get what you need!"

"If I drink a glass, will you actually stop chasing me!"

"But of course!"

"FINE!" I sat down, took a small glass, and poured some sake in it. Reluctantly, I took it, and to make it durable, I chugged it all down in one gulp.

"Now that wasn't so bad was it?"

"It didn't taste as bad as I expected."

"See!"

"Yes, yes."

I decided to drink one more glass. But then things got a little fuzzy.

"Hey, Little Bookworm!"

"Yes…"

"How about one more glass!"

"You got it…" I drank another one, and then another shortly after. I wasn't so sure if this was good or bad. I hadn't felt like I actually had a good time like this in a long time. And then we struck up a drunken conversation.

"Hey, Little Bookworm!"

"Yup!"

"Remember the last time you got drunk?"

"Yup!"

"You were all attacking everything in sight! Then the scary dude with the scar and one eye got all 'GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK!' It was soooo much fun to watch!"

"Too bad I wasn't there to watch myself…"

"Yeah, and there was this one other person who was drunk with you, I think she had this long, snow white hair, and then you were all beating up everyone…"

I was laughing, but then I started quieting down, and then I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up, dazed and confused, and temporarily having something ache in my stomach. It took me a minute to realize that I was in a bed on the floor. The blankets were comfy, and so was the pillow, but that didn't compensate for my gastric pain. I curled up, clutching my stomach, and decided to sleep again. But unfortunately, Vexen came along.

"Good morning!" Vexen shouted.

"Not so loud…" I whined.

"Aww, but it was only your first actual drinking session! You have to be proud of that!"

"In what way…"

"Well, you have to be thankful you didn't destroy the house!"

"I said not to talk so loud…"

"Get out of bed! We have a lot of work to do!"

Vexen proceeded to drag me out of bed. And he said that we were going to pick up our missing comrades. Unfortunately, I only just woke up, and I was too tired to walk a long way. So to solve the problem, Vexen decided to carry me.

"This looks rather embarrassing…" I complained.

"Don't worry, with all the rabid monsters, people will just think you got injured!"

"Fine…"

* * *

We proceeded through town, and surprisingly, no one had raised an eyebrow at us. We passed right through the town and continued walking. Everything was disturbingly silent, and Vexen just now remembered that we lacked food from breakfast. This was evident as both of our stomachs growled.

"How will we find food this far away from town…" I moaned.

"Don't worry, we've been lucky before haven't we?"

"What _do_ you consider lucky?"

"I consider…" He started scratching his head, but then it seemed as if he caught something from the corner of his eye. He turned his head and pointed. "I consider that that is lucky!"

He was pointing to our four new friends. If I didn't know any better, I think they were stalking us. But they were riding these weird…bird things. They were bright yellow, with orange beaks and blue eyes. They quickly caught up to us and dismounted.

"Hello!" Yuna greeted.

"How's it going, Little Bookworm?" Tidus asked.

"Well, I'm still alive."

"Why do you say that?" He leaned over to take a good look at me. "You don't look so well. Did something happen last night?"

"Big Bookworm over here forced me to drink sake."

"Oh, so you got drunk?" Refia guessed. "I would love to imagine you as a drunk person…"

"Why?" Ingus asked her.

"Well, most of the time, you look uninterested in things."

"Listen, do you have any breakfast we could eat?" Vexen butted in.

"Of course we do!" The girls shouted.

We were served cakes for breakfast. It wasn't bad, but I preferred Vexen's way of baking. We were hungrily scarfing it all down, with surprised faces aimed at us. They all observed as we ate, which made me a little uncomfortable. In less than three minutes, we were done.

"That was a very quick meal." Yuna commented.

"I'll say." Tidus added.

"What are those birds?" I asked.

"You've never seen one before?" Ingus asked.

"They're the cutest things EVER!" The girls shouted while hugging the birds' necks. The birds responded with squeaky sounds.

"They're what we call chocobos!" Refia yelled.

"Chocobos?" Vexen asked.

"They're our mode of transportation." Ingus said.

"By the way, where are you guys headed?" Tidus asked me.

"We're headed towards a place called the Fun Flower district. Two of our friends are there and we would like to meet up with them."

"The Fun Flower District!?" The girls excitedly asked. "They have the best clothes! Please let us go with you!"

"I don't think you can." Ingus said.

"Why not?" Refia said.

"If you didn't remember, Refia, a group of six would make our presence obvious to monsters. If that happens we would fight get tired, and possibly get killed in a time of fatigue. Also, we have an errand to run."

"Darn it."

"Then we'll go with you guys!" Yuna and Tidus happily yelled in unison.

"The more the merrier!" Vexen agreed.

"We'll be happy to walk back to town while you use our chocobos." Ingus added.

We thanked them, and we all took off on our chocobos. We started off through empty grassy fields, then into flowered fields of a certain color, then through the grassy fields, and then through the flowered fields again.

* * *

It took a while, but we finally reached Yukaku. As the girls translated earlier, flowers surrounded it, but what we didn't expect was a particular event taking place right when we arrived. We heard waves of cheer and applause coming from a large tent. No doubt it was a circus. Maybe that tied into the "Fun" part of the title.

"Let's check out what's going on." The two Hunters suggested.

It was a circus, but it only had women in it. Despite that, they were still pretty fun to watch. One was balancing on a ball and juggling smaller balls, while another one was balancing on a tightrope, etc.

"I've never seen a circus before, but this looks kind of cool!" Vexen said to me.

"Why? Because it's all girls?" I asked.

"It is NOT because of that."

The lighting darkened. Then a single woman came out and announced. "Ladies and gentlemen! As our final act, the newest addition to our circus will perform magic unlike anything you have ever seen! Her she is!" The lighting lit up, and a new figure appeared out of a burst of colored smoke.

"Hey, Little Bookworm." Tidus started. "I've never seen her before, perhaps she's one of the friends you're looking for.

I looked closer, and she was…

"Larxene!" Vexen yelled.

"So you do know her!" Yuna yelled.

Larxene had two assistants throw out baskets filled with flowers, and with one wave of her arm, lighting had struck all of the flowers simultaneously, and all of them burst into a shower of small flames that slowly drifted down and disappeared.

"Do the sparks actually burn anyone?" We heard people murmur in the crowds. We cautiously reached out our hands, and they didn't burn at all. They didn't even cast off any warmth. This had pleased the crowd, and they were all roaring in happiness.

* * *

Right after the show, we marched right over to the back of the tent, and tried to catch Larxene before she snuck off somewhere. We went through an opening and then we saw all the performers congratulate themselves by drinking sake. When we were about to ask the nearest person, some one pulled as aside to a different room.

"What are you two doing here!?" An all too familiar voice demanded. It was Larxene.

"We were sent by Xemnas to rescue you after you didn't come back." Vexen replied.

"Tch. You're a month too late."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Just a week ago…" She started. "Me and Xunakiy were hunting monsters, like we did for the last two weeks, but then out of the blue, this entire army of monsters appeared out of nowhere, with some guy controlling them…"

"Continue…"

"Well, there was just too many, and Xunakiy said that I should just get out of there while I still had a chance, and she forced me out of there. And when I came back for her, she was…in a coma."

* * *

((Hello again! This chapter isn't much, but at least we know the location of the two missing Organization members! Keep reading and reviewing!))


	10. The World of Teien Part 3

Part 10

I couldn't believe what I just heard. Xunakiy was in a coma? How would she wake up? When would she wake up?

"Where is she?" I asked Larxene.

"Her bed's over by the corner." And she pointed over to the far corner to the room. She was silently sleeping, only to be awaken by unknown means. I rushed over to her, and just stood there.

I had never seen Xunakiy asleep. She always seemed like the energetic kind that almost never slept, except when the sky grew darker. She seemed at peace, which almost made me feel better. Almost. Hair was covering parts of her face, and I gently brushed it aside.

"I know how much you care about her…" Larxene started. "I'm really sorry to let this happen."

"You know what?"

"Huh?"

"We will find out what's behind all of these comas, and end it once and for all!" I yelled.

"And you know what?"

"Eh?"

"THIS IS A FEMALE-ONLY CIRCUS! IF YOU GET CAUGHT, WE MIGHT NEVER MEET UP AGAIN!" Larxene shouted.

"But Larxene, the fact that you're shouting all of this out will make it even more obvious that men are here…" Vexen stated.

"Oh, shut up!"

"What are we to do, then?"

"I'll just say that I would do some monster hunting whenever I need to meet up with you."

"You're a Hunter too?" I asked.

"Of course I am!"

"May we ask what your weapon is?" Vexen said.

"It's…this." She pulled out a bow and a quiver of arrows from nowhere. The bow was a dark shade of blue with jagged lines jutting back and forth across it. No doubt she chose it for the resemblance to lightning.

"And how much Saku would you say you have on you?" I asked.

"Well…" She put away her weapon(s) and simply said that she had a lot.

"What do you mean by a lot?"

"A lot as in…"

"As in…?"

"Two hundred and fifty thousand."

"HOLY CRAP!" Vexen and I shouted.

We heard footsteps coming our way, and we quickly hid inside a nearby wardrobe. Both of us had to put up with personal space being invaded by the other's.

"Little Bookworm! Get your hand off my face!"

"Big Bookworm, watch where your guns are!"

We both stopped arguing as the footsteps got louder and louder.

"Arashi?" A woman called out as we heard someone enter the room.

"Um, y-yes?"

"I heard some voices. Is there anyone else besides Senritsu in here with you?"

"No, no one else is here."

"All right then. I was just checking." The footsteps got softer until we didn't hear anything at all. Then we both sighed a sigh of relief. Then we heard Larxene giggling. We both fell outside the wardrobe to see what was happening.

"Larxene? What's going on?" I asked. She still kept going.

"Larxene?"

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" She burst into laughter.

"What the hell!?"

"Little Bookworm and Big Bookworm!? That's hilarious!"

"Blame Big Bookworm for that! He's the one who named us!"

"That's your f-fault—HAHA—for not signing your name in yourself! HAHAHA! Oh, y-yeah. You should just call me Arashi while we're here."

"Arashi?" Vexen asked.

"Yeah. Senritsu over there named us. She said 'Arashi' would be written as 'storm' in her language."

"Senritsu?" We asked once more.

"She also said that 'Senritsu' would be written out as 'melody'."

"She's quite creative, Xunakiy…" Vexen commented.

"We don't have time to contemplate this." I said. "We have to find the man who's causing this."

"Fine! I'll go with you."

"Hey, Little Bookworm?" Vexen asked me. Larxene got another giggling fit. "Do you know where our other companions are?"

"Oh crap!" We completely forgot about Tidus and Yuna. We just rushed over here the minute the circus ended.

"Other companions?" Larxene finally asked.

"You didn't happen to see a guy with dirty blond hair and a girl with short brown hair, did you?"

"Nope."

"Crap…"

* * *

We left the room, and searched all over the Fun Flower District. We decided to give up, but then we heard Tidus yell from a pace nearby.

"Did you hear that!?" Larxene shouted.

"Of course I did!" We rushed over, and then we saw Tidus face down on a table.

"Tidus! Who did this to you!?" I yelled.

"I didn't get hurt…I'm just so full…" He pointed over to a sign, and it said…

"Eat thirty plates of food and get one hundred thousand Saku?" Vexen read.

"Seems like it. And our companion here failed." I commented. "By the way, where's Yuna?"

"She's over there." Tidus pointed again.

Yuna was surrounded by dozens of other people in the open restaurant, and when I counted the plates, she was very close to winning.

"C'mon, Tidus! You're not quitting now are you!?" She yelled.

"I'm just so full…" He replied.

"Whatever!" She went back to eating at an alarming rate.

"Where does she put all that food?" Larxene asked.

"Who knows…"

Yuna held up her last plate, and went over to the cashier to get her prize money.

"Woohoo!"

"So, what in the world are you going to use the prize money for?" Vexen asked.

"I don't know! But if something comes up, I'll be sure to get it!"

* * *

We introduced Tidus and Yuna to "Arashi" and we decided to wander back to Aiko's.

"Nice to meet you again, Arashi!" Aiko greeted.

"Wait. You to knew each other?" I asked.

"Of course!" Larxene answered. "Aiko was the one who first took us in before we went on to the Fun Flower District!"

"That's right!"

We ate homemade sweets, and since it was Larxene's first time eating Vexen's baking, she ate up most of what was there.

"Arashi! Stop taking it all!" I demanded.

"But this tastes sooooo good!"

"Don't worry, I'll make some more!" Vexen assured us.

"See!"

"But you're being a glutton!"

"Shut up!"

"Hey! Little Bookworm!" Tidus yelled.

"What is it?"

"Why don't we spar outside!"

"Um…sure?"

* * *

We went outside, where no one was watching, and we both took out our swords.

"Let's see how good we are!" He lunged at me again. I took out Hakuro, but it slipped out of my hand. "Gotcha now!" I just bent over to pick my sword up, but then I saw Tidus' shadow pass me. "No fair!" It seems he had missed.

"Oh, um, sorry!"

"It's okay! Okay, this time it's for real!" He came at me again, and I hoped I would perform another special attack, like the last time we battled, but the words never came. I just guarded his sword as it was nearing my head.

"Surely you can come up with more of a challenge!" He taunted. I just threw him off. "If you're not going to attack, then I will!" He raised Caladbolg over his head, and then, his sword started glowing. "Sea…Dragon…Wave!" All of a sudden, blue shockwaves started flying towards me, and I was knocked back a ways.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I can tell that this is your first time handling a sword!"

"More or less…"

"You see, think of the sword as an extension of your arm."

"A sharp extension?"

"Yes. A reeeaaally sharp extension. You see, there are many varieties of weapons, ranging from Arashi's bow and arrow, to Big Bookworm's guns. But you can only fell how strong your opponent is by using a sword."

"I kind of get it…"

"Good! Let's try it one more time!" And with that he attacked me once more by running and then jumping at me. I skillfully parried away the blow. "Are you starting to understand it?"

"I think I am."

"Good!" Then he came at me really fast, and he was already behind me. I didn't feel anything, but for some reason, my sword was split in half. Not being shattered, but it was split from the tip, all the way down to the bottom of the hilt, with the steel wing attached to the white part of the sword.

"Oops."

"It's alright. I can always get another one." I looked at it again, and I picked up both of the swords. They both seemed incomplete, but at the same time, they still looked like good weapons.

"Wait a minute!" Tidus yelled. Those are dual swords! I don't understand how I could've seen it before! Your dual swords could either be used as one or two swords." I forgot about it too. After handing it to me, Doremi stated that it was a dual sword. I can't believe I forgot after just two days.

"Really…" I help up a fighting stance with the black and white swords, and I practiced swinging them around. Both felt balanced in my hands.

"Let's try it one last time!" For the final time, he lunged at me, and I was able to block and counterattack each and every one of his attacks. And I also felt another super attack come to me. Tidus performed one too.

"Sea King Attack!" He yelled. A bright blue mass of swirling cuts was aimed right at me.

"Night Magic: Heavenly Wolf Blade!" I called out. I combined them again, slammed them on the ground, and sent a gigantic shock wave towards him. The two attacks were battling each other. When it seemed one would win, it would come right back. Then in one explosion, Tidus was knocked back by about ten yards.

"Looks like you got it! How 'bout we search for some more monsters to kill! I think you still need to practice!" I had no time to decline because he started dragging me away from the house.

"Don't you think everyone will worry if we just leave like this?" I asked.

"Don't worry! I doubt they'll worry that much!"

* * *

We didn't have to walk far to find monsters. Most of them were pretty weak though. After getting the hang of my sword, it wasn't hard.

"You catch on pretty quick, Little Bookworm!"

"Thanks."

"Hey! Here comes another pack!" With that said, monsters that were larger than the ones we faced before appeared.

"This one looks strong! You ready?"

"You bet."

We charged, but before we could swing our swords, it grew swords for hands and slammed them on the ground. We were forced back a few yards.

"These look a bit too strong…"

"You think?"

We ran over, aiming special attacks at it, but it was barely scratched.

"I think these are 'Ichi-level'! Maybe we need to get the others!"

"Good idea." We ran for our lives, dodging the attacks in rapid succession. "How far did we wander from Aiko's house?"

"A long way."

The monster was charging an attack, and it looked almost unavoidable from where we were.

"HOLY CRAP!" We both yelled. We were about to be disintegrated.

"I never thought it would end this way!" Tidus whined.

"Me neither."

"Oh! Stop you're whining!" We were suddenly grabbed by the back of our collars and the next thing I know, I'm watching the ground speed past me.

"Ingus! Refia!" Tidus cheered. "How'd you find us!?"

"We could remember your whines anywhere, chocobo-head." Refia replied.

"Shut up! I am not a chocobo-head!"

"Can we focus on getting out of here." Ingus reminded us.

Both Tidus and I adjusted our positions so that we didn't look like hunted animals. The monsters that were gaining on us were not only large and powerful, but also fast. We all sighed when we saw the house coming up.

"There it is—" Then a blast from a monster had forced us off our chocobos. They were about to strike again, but then we heard bullets fire and saw arrows protrude from the majority of our adversaries.

"You didn't think we'd let you start the party without us, would you?" Larxene's voice playfully asked.

"Arashi, Big Bookworm, and Yuna to the rescue!" Yuna sang out.

We all got up, and started our counterattack.

"Magic Wave: Dragon King Sword!" I shouted. I sliced two of them in half.

"Sea King Attack!" Tidus destroyed another one.

"Aeroga!" Refia used wind to ensnare most of them.

"Shadow Art: Arrow Multiplication!" Larxene fired just one arrow, but more and more appeared, and destroyed the majority.

"My turn!" Ingus took out a sword. "Ars Arcanum!" He unleashed a volley of slashes from a magically powered sword, taking out some of the last ones.

"Let me have a go!" Vexen shouted. He fired bullets from both guns at once, but that didn't seem like enough to finish them off. "WHAT!?"

"Just wait a while…" Yuna added. The monsters slowly started dissipating within seconds.

"How'd you do that?" I asked.

"I laced some of the bullets with poison magic." Yuna said with a smile.

"Never mind that because…"

"We did it!" We all shouted.

"This calls for sake!" Vexen shouted.

"Now you're talking!" The girls replied.

"No! You can't get drunk!" Tidus and Ingus objected.

"Why not!?"

"Because the last time you both got drunk was that of when you nearly killed off our chocobos for food." Ingus explained.

"You still remember that!?"

"They seriously did that?" I asked Tidus.

"Yeah…one of them wouldn't stand to ride with either of the, again, so we had to get a new pair of chocos."

"You know what, we can just get drunk later and we can all just get our rewards back at city hall, okay?" Yuna suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Refia agreed.

"Leave it for the girls to be the bossy ones of the group…" Tidus muttered.

"What was that you said?" The girls turned back with a disturbingly happy smile. All of us were frozen with fear.

"I-I d-didn't say anything." Tidus choked out.

"Good!"

"What the hell is causing all the noise!?"

It seems that we actually woke up Aiko from her afternoon nap, and she scolded all seven of us for it. Eventually, we were able to escape her wrath and head over to the town of Renhi without getting involved with another serious battle.

* * *

We were having a great time thinking about how we were each going to spend our reward money. For defeating some of the strongest monsters around, we would rake in a lot of Saku.

"I think I should get back to the Fun Flower District soon…" Larxene muttered.

"But we were getting along nicely!" Refia complained.

"Yeah, I have to complain about that too…"

"Hey guys, don't you smell something funny in the air?" I asked. In response everyone started sniffing, and they covered their mouths shortly after.

"It smells as if something's…burning." Yuna commented.

"Oh no…" Tidus said as he pointed ahead.

"HOLY CRAP! THE TOWN IS ON FIRE!" We all shouted.

We rushed over and did our best to stop the fire from spreading, but it had already gone through most of the town.

"Refia! Create an ice barrier to stop it from spreading while we try to evacuate everyone!" Ingus yelled.

"Right! Blizzaga!" Ice walls jutted out from the alleyways in between non-blazing shops and houses.

"That'll buy us some time!"

Yuna and Refia did their best by casting water and ice spells, while the rest of us rescued citizens from the inferno. About an hour into it, I saw monsters, but familiar creatures with them also.

"Little Bookworm!" Vexen shouted. He was pointing at the creatures that were dancing around the fires. "Th-they're—"

"Lesser nobodies." It was true. The deformed beings were the ones aiding the monsters. And then I saw one more figure. It was a man with short silver hair pulled into a ponytail. He was sitting atop one of the monsters.

"That's the man doing all of this!" I yelled. If I had a heart, I would've been filled up with so much rage and frustration. He was the one that put Xunakiy in danger. I was about to aim a strong attack at him, but Vexen placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You can't be thinking about that at a time like this!"

"Why wouldn't I be!? He's the one that put Xunakiy in a co—" Vexen punched me in my cheek.

"What the—"

"If she was in your position, what would she do!?"

"She…she would rescue everyone else first."

"And that's what you need to do! You said it yourself! We are going to get to the bottom of this! But we need to focus on getting people out of here!"

"Right."

Reluctantly, I rescued the rest of the people in the vicinity, and I thought that I could continue my pursuit of the man, but then I came across a man and a woman that were standing stock-still in front of a mansion.

"C'mon! You have to get out of here!"

"Please! You have to rescue my daughter! Hazuki's still in there! She's in the second story, but the stairs already went down." The woman begged. Hazuki was the name of the girl that was at the main desk at city hall. These were her parents.

"Don't worry! I'll get her out!" I jumped and took out my swords. I dug them into the wall to help me get up there.

Once I got up to a balcony, I jumped through the broken sliding glass doors, only to find myself in a preview of hell. "Dammit! Why do fires have to be so hot!" I opened about three rooms, all of them blazing. There was one last room, and she was there.

"Hazuki! Are you all right!?"

"Get me out of here!" She screamed.

I carried her, which made me feel a lot heavier. I rushed through the hallway, only to find out that the floor had already given way. I jumped, but I was only able to get Hazuki across.

"Let me help you up!"

"No! Your parents are worried sick! Just go through the doors, and jump! Your parents will be there to catch you!"

"But—"

"GO!"

She ran off and looked one last time at me before jumping. I was being a complete idiot for not letting her help. I tried to swing my leg up, but then my arm lost its grip, leaving me dangling on top of an open furnace. I tried again, but this time, it completely crumbled off, leaving me to fall.

* * *

I was waken up by a punch, which was from Big Bookworm.

"You could at least do it with a little bit more care, Big Bookworm." Ingus criticized.

"Shut up. It's his fault for not thinking this out rationally."

"What the hell was the punch for…?" I asked weakly.

"You're alive!" Tidus cheered.

"Where the hell am I…?"

"You're back at Aiko's house. We were able to contain the fire." Larxene said.

"How the hell—"

"No one knows how you were able to get out of there." Yuna said. "We just found you in an alleyway, with a note in your hands."

"A…note?"

"All it said was: _I will wait for you at the Northern Castle_."

* * *

((Another cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHAHA!! Okay, the next chapter will definitely be the last chapter in the Teien story arc. Nothing much to add here, except…READ AND REVIEW!!))


	11. The World of Teien Part 4

Part 11

"Where's the Northern Castle?" I asked.

"In the _North._" Tidus replied.

"I got that, but how would I know if it's the right castle?"

"The Northern Castle…" Refia started. "Would be easily distinguished from other castles by its eerie appearance of overhanging dead branches, deteriorating exterior, and the river of turbulent waters surrounding it. It's also trapped in an eternal blizzard."

"I like that. Short, simple, to the point, and it gives all the more of a challenge."

"So…when are we leaving?" Tidus asked.

"We are going to be leaving as soon as Little Bookworm here rests up." Big Bookworm answered.

"Oh…one more thing. Is Hazuki and her parents all right?" I asked him.

"Don't worry. We were able to get all three of them to safety."

"That's good." I yawned. "I'll see you all in the morning. Good night."

"Wait. Little Bookworm, I need to have a word with you."

Everyone stayed quiet. Then Big Bookworm glared at everyone with a look that would rival Xemnas'.

"Oh, you mean alone. Sorry." Larxene added. Everyone silently left the room afterwards.

"So…what is it you want to talk about?" I asked tentatively.

"It's about Senritsu."

"You mean Xunakiy?" He nodded.

"I'm worried about the both of you."

"Both?"

"You see. I'm worried for Xunakiy because she's still not used to the danger of being in the Organization."

"And…?"

"And I'm worried about you because you're…attracted to her."

"I'm not—"

"Did you even remember what you were going to do earlier? You were about to go for him just for Xunakiy's sake."

"Oh yeah…"

"And you also looked worried when you asked me where she was before all this. You grow more and more protective of her, to cut it all short."

"How is this a problem?"

"Well, I fear you two might develop feelings for each other. And I'm also worried that Xemnas will come to know of this later on. And you of all people would know what it brings."

"How can I forget…"

"So before you two start becoming attached to each other…you must sever your ties and avoid each other after we complete this mission."

"This won't be a problem! Even if we do develop something, what are the chances of Xemnas finding out!"

"The fact that you're raising your voice against me is proof enough."

"What the hell is wrong with you!? You're bringing this down on me at the most inconvenient of times, and I have to sleep!"

"Stop being immature about this."

"Like you're one to talk! Most of the time, you're as immature as Demyx!"

"At least I'm mature enough to admit my feelings to others. Before Xunakiy came, you shut yourself off from everyone. As a nobody, all you ever did in life was simply wander around waiting for your own death."

"…"

"And since Xunakiy came along, you've actually been interacting with others, which I'm pretty sure Xemnas has already noticed."

"How does this tie in with anything you've said before?"

"I'm just worrying about you two! Is that too much!?"

"I can take care of myself! I can also take on Xemnas!"

"But what about Xunakiy?"

"…"

"She can never fight Xemnas on her own. That is the most of my worries. If it ever came to her getting punished by Xemnas over this sort of matter…the chances are that she could be killed. And you could be greatly affected by it."

"Why? Why do you bring this up now?"

"She's actually been more of a daughter to me, and before, you were more like a little brother. And it's my job to worry like this."

"Let's get back to the actual topic."

"Fine. All I'm saying is that you two would get in a lot of trouble if Xemnas finds out."

"Can we worry about this sometime after I rescue Xunakiy?"

"We shouldn't procrastinate, but, seeing as you need your rest, I'll just leave you to catch up on Z's." With that said, he left the room.

* * *

I couldn't sleep at all. I was just wallowing around in bed, trying to see what would help. I tried sleeping upside-down, without the blanket, burying my head under the pillow…all the attempts however, were all in vain. I pretended to sleep when I heard the door click. Someone had entered.

"I know you're not sleeping." Came Tidus' voice.

"How do you tell?"

"Your eyes are trapped shut, unlike someone who is really sleeping. Their eyes look settled."

"I figured you would refer to that. Why did you come here again?"

"I just wanted to say…um…good luck tomorrow!"

"Liar."

"Fine. I wanted to see how far you would go for this 'Xunakiy' girl."

"How do you know about her?"

"I heard you and Big Bookworm fight. It was actually hard not to hear it ever so clearly if you're standing close to the door. So…"

"So…?"

"So…what's she like?"

"Well, she's nice. She's someone reliable, and caring, and she always takes responsibility for what she thinks is her fault." I suddenly burst into laughter.

"What's wrong with you!?"

I settled down. "Well, she would always do these apology rants. She would run around screaming for everyone in the vicinity to forgive her, and she would end up making a fool of herself. But, she's still a great person, despite all that."

"Do you…you know…"

"What?"

"Like her?"

"Wha—where'd you get that idea!?"

"So you do like her."

"Well, yes."

"But, you're afraid that a guy named Xemnas will find out."

"There's that…"

"And…?"

"And Ve—I mean, Big Bookworm is right. Back home, he's always right. I hate that about him. He always makes himself look high and mighty. But…"

"But what? Finish your sentences!"

"All right. But he always tells what's true. Before, I was like an immature child, not wanting to share my insecurities with others, never admitting what I feel…that sort of thing."

"And then Xunakiy came along."

"Yes. I don't know why, but she makes me feel like a 'somebody.'"

"She makes you feel special!"

"Now that I think about it, you're being the more immature one."

"Okay. To tell you the truth, I like Yuna! But don't tell her, okay!"

"That was unexpected."

"You won't tell!"

"All right!"

"Great! I'll leave you to sleep now!"

I was very tired, and so I proceeded to sleep.

* * *

"Hello, Zexion-kun! How are you today?" Xunakiy greeted me. I knew this had to be a dream, because I didn't wake her up yet. But I was still glad that she looked happy. "Listen, I'm wishing you good luck tomorrow! Make sure that you wake everyone up, okay?"

"But you fell into a coma too."

"I know that." She smiled and then she brushed my side bang so that she could see my right eye. But then the vision in my right eye was getting blurry, and then I saw absolutely nothing from that eye.

"Remember to tell nii-san that when we meet again…he's going to have to apologize!"

* * *

I woke up. And I waved my hand over my face to see if my vision was still all right and it was. I sighed and got up. I wondered who this "nii-san" was.

"Oh well, time to get going." I said to myself.

"Without me? How selfish, Little Bookworm." I turned around to see Vexen behind me.

"So, you're not mad at me anymore?"

"Of course I'm mad at you." He gave off a smirk. "Just a little bit less, now."

"Then let's get going."

* * *

We attacked the kitchen, stuffing our mouths with a rushed breakfast, we said goodbye to everyone, boarded our chocobos, and rode off North. I was wondering if Larxene had wanted to come with us, but knowing her, she should've overslept.

"As long as no one else is around, we can go back to calling you Vexen and calling me Zexion, right?"

"Sure."

"Finally."

"Don't tell me you don't like the names?"

"It's been evident since Tidus announced it a few days ago."

"I never noticed. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Not anything in particular…"

"This trip will be somewhat boring then."

"All right."

We proceeded for about half an hour, killing monsters on our way, and waiting until we saw snow. And we got there sooner than we thought. Due to the blizzard, it got harder and harder to see.

"So…this is the Northern Castle." Vexen said.

"It really does look creepy. It looks as if we're trapped in a horror book." I added.

"Oh well, no time to waste! How do we get across this river?"

Vexen walked around, to see if there were any usable bridges to get across the raging waters, but there were none.

"Looks like we're going to see if we can survive swimming across…"

"Let's get started then." I approached the river, and began to take off my coat, when the river suddenly stopped. So did the snow.

"How did you do that, Zexion?"

"I don't know. But we might as well go for it." I was going to just go down slowly, but my feet touched down on something.

"Zexion! How are you walking on water?"

"I don't know." I walked across the river, and I suddenly heard a splash behind me.

"How come I can't do it?" He whined.

"Shut up and swim over."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today…" He muttered. He did the backstroke, and I passed him with ease.

When my feet touched down on the river, the current started up again, and Vexen was caught up in it. Luckily, he caught a nearby branch and pulled himself right next to me.

"This…place…doesn't…like me!"

"Let's hurry up so we can get out of here, then."

We opened up two large double doors, but it seemed as if Vexen couldn't enter the castle.

"Great! Just great!"

"I'll just go by myself and you wait."

"Of all the times to act mature…I'll just wait for—" The doors immediately shut, and I was stuck in the castle.

The castle looked as worn out in the inside as it was on the outside. Several pillars were broken down, with the ones holding up the structure crumbling. Dust and rocks were scattered about, along with some broken off candelabra. With its crumbling appearance and its surplus of cobwebs, it really did feel like a horror movie.

"Echo!" I shouted. I couldn't help but do it, because the echo itself was so loud.

I walked around the castle, looking for the mystery culprit. I got tired so fast because the castle was so big.

"I'm glad to see that you made it." I turned around. No one. But when I turned back, the man was a few feet in front of me. Now that I think about it, he sounded much younger than how he looked. "Let's have a chat in the library, shall we?" He calmly walked to a door and went inside. Of course, I followed.

The room was one large library. Its size rivaled the library back at the World That Never Was. Of course, I wanted to run through the isles and start reading, but the man was waiting for me at a table. I cautiously sat down.

"Okay, may I know your name?" He asked.

"It's…um…err…Little Bookworm." I replied. I half expected him to laugh, but he gave off a grin.

"I mean your real one."

"Zexion."

"So you're the one that my little sister has been hanging out with so much. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

"Little sister? Does that mean that you're her big brother!?"

"Yes."

"Then why the hell did you put her in a coma!?"

"I know that my sister would never hesitate to do what she can, so I figured that it was only a matter of time before she arrived here. And if she fell into a coma, it would drive you to seek out the cause of it. In short terms, I wanted to see how far you would go for her."

"Why?"

"Because I also wanted to know if she would be happy in her present state. Being one without a heart, nor any emotions, remorse, or anything else connected to having a heart, would be pretty tough. But I knew my little sister would never have anything like that stop her. Are you even listening?" He said when he noticed me reading a book.

"Of course I am. I'm multitasking."

"Let's see how you can fight." He made an entirely black sword with a bat wing attachment appear out of nowhere and he took it in his hand. "Draw your sword." I took out Hakuro and split it in two. "Ah, double swords. I've never fought someone that uses a pair. This will be exciting."

"Likewise."

He lunged at me and then made a quick sidestep. I quickly parried that, and then he thrust his sword, which nearly cut my arm off. I launched an attack at his right arm, and then he guarded. With one sword free, I slashed at his neck. He jumped back to narrowly escape my attack.

"I can tell that you are still a bit of a beginner in swordsmanship."

"What's it to you?"

"I'll tell you later—" He suddenly lifted his arm to his neck, and found that it had been cut, although it wasn't very deep. "Well, well. I thought I dodged your attack completely." He took a quick glance at his hand that held blood.

"And thought that I beheaded you."

"It seems that both of us were wrong. Let's continue, shall we?"

Once again, he lunged. "Raitei Shourai!" He shot thunder at me, which tore off my right sleeve when I dodged it. He just stood still after that.

"So…what are you going to do?" I asked.

"I think we are done fighting here." He made his sword disappear, and then he sat back down.

"I think that was a bit short."

"Would you want to be fried?" I gulped. "I didn't think so."

I sat down. "So, why did you want to bring me here?"

"I have something I need you to do."

"What is it?"

"You have to promise. You have to promise that you will protect my little sister. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"I do…but…

"But…?"

"I-I can't do that! I can't promise that!"

"Of course you will. It's because you admitted it yourself. That you deeply care about her."

"But I can't get close to her, even if I wanted to."

"You don't have to get close to her. I just need you to protect her."

"I'll do my best."

"But make sure…that your best is enough to take care of her."

"I will."

"Thank you. Oh, before you go…" He waved his hand, and suddenly Xunakiy appeared sitting unconsciously against a bookshelf.

"Where—"

"I picked her up from the circus."

"Why—"

"I thought it would be a bother for you if you had to go all the way to the Fun Flower District again. And with the female-only troupe, you might not get a chance to pick her up yourself without getting caught."

I walked over, and started carrying her.

"Okay, now that we are all set, time to give you back your powers."

"EH!?"

"I put a magic spell around this world so that your little group wouldn't be able to use your powers here. But, as of now, I release it." With a wave of his arm, some sort of sound echoed throughout the castle.

"You know what? I never got your name."

"My name is Luneth."

"And one more thing. How is it you were able to control the monsters and the lesser nobodies?"

"Well, I'm very good at magic, and manipulating is more like a smaller category…and I think it's because I have a fairly strong heart. You can smell my scent, can't you?"

"Well, yes. You do have a strong heart, but I think it's susceptible to being controlled with the darkness in it."

"We shall wait and see. I believe it's our time to leave, don't you think?" He opened up a portal. "Farewell, Zexion. And make sure you take care of Yukina, because you have many adversities lying in your path."

"I will. And the very last thing…"

"What is it?"

"Xunakiy told me in my dream, that you are going to have to apologize to her, once you two meet up again."

"So we both have our promises. Don't worry once we meet again. I'll apologize." And he disappeared.

"Now what?" I heard a loud bang coming from the entrance of the castle.

"Zexion! Where the hell are you!?" I heard Vexen shout.

"I'm fine! I'm in the library!" I shouted back.

"They have a library?" He rushed into the room, with an exhausted look upon his face. "Did you ever find him?"

"I did, and we had a little…chat."

"Did you fight?"

"A little."

"Damn. I would've liked to see that. So…you have Xunakiy with you?" He said, pointing to her.

"Yes. He did me a little favor and picked her up for us."

"Would you describe him as an ally, or an adversary?"

"A little bit of both."

"I see…"

"Well, time to pick up Larxene and get the hell out of here."

"We can use our powers now?"

"Sure."

* * *

We got back to Aiko's house, and said goodbye to everyone. Tidus didn't want me to go.

"But you can't go! I wanted to see if we could battle again!" He yelled while shaking my body around.

"I'm p-pretty s-sure th-that we will m-meet each other again s-soon." I said in between the shakes.

"Oh, fine." He let go with a pout.

"Good-bye!" The girls yelled with small waves. "It was nice meeting you!"

"Hopefully you come back soon." Aiko added.

"She's still sleeping, even though everyone's waken up from their comas." Larxene said to me. "Are you sure she's all right? Plus, you haven't exactly let her go."

"I'm sure she's fine, Arashi!" Vexen assured her. He opened up a portal.

"Whoa!" Everyone shouted.

"You can do magic, Big Bookworm?" Ingus asked.

"Sort of…let's get going!"

After everyone else left, Tidus shouted.

"You just CAN'T go!"

"We will meet again. Count on it. And one more thing…"

"What?"

"Both of us will get have gotten stronger by the next time we fight. I'm expecting you to uphold that."

"I will!"

And with a smile, I walked through the portal.

* * *

We got back home, with everyone hysterically asking, "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!?"

We answered them simply by saying, "We were on a mission."

Everyone stared at us angrily, and Marluxia stepped up.

"How could you put an innocent child like Xunakiy in danger!?" He shouted at me.

"She put herself in danger! Can you blame her!? He was just trying to help!" Larxene defended me.

"What's this, Zexion!? Could it be that you like our little Xunakiy-chan?"

"Shut up." Everyone laughed out loud. After escaping the dangers of the welcoming committee, I walked over to Xunakiy's room.

* * *

I gently laid her down, and gently brushed off her hair from her face. When I was about to leave, she woke up.

"Nnnggh. Zexion-kun?" She asked weakly.

"Yes?" I kneeled down, getting a closer look at her.

"Thank you…for saving me." She said while covering part of her face with a blanket. If I remember correctly, she was blushing.

"You shouldn't be thanking me. It was natural that I had to come for you."

"I guess so."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm just a little tired. Can you hold my hand?"

"Hmm?"

"My big brother used to tell me…that if I was sick, I should have someone hold my hand. It would help me heal faster."

"I-I'm sorry, Xunakiy, I have to go." I stood up.

"Okay…" She dozed off. I smiled, but when I wanted to walk away, I felt something tug at my robe. When I turned my head, I saw that Xunakiy was the one holding me. I saw that she was still sleeping, and I knew that her body was doing this all in it's own.

"All right. Just this once." I pulled up a nearby chair, sat down, and held her hand with both of mine.

"Arigato, Zexion." I heard her whisper with a smile.

* * *

((Yay! End of the story arc! You'll know what Zexion-kun's weird dream means in the upcoming chapter! As always, keep reading and review!))


	12. A Spider's Curse and a Bookworm

Part 12

"Zexion-kun? It's time to wake up now." I heard Xunakiy say.

"Eh?" I sat up, and I rubbed my eyes.

"I thought you were going to leave the room. But you stayed and held my hand anyway. Why is that?"

"Well, you tugged at the back of my robe, and then you thanked me after I took your hand."

"I…did?"

"How could you not remember?"

"I…don't…know. Oh well, time to get the day started!" She jumped out of bed, and then she dragged me along. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Oh, umm…anything that would involve rice and fish?"

"Oh! I was thinking about sushi too! What kind of fish would you like?"

"I don't know? How about you pick on this one?"

"Oh no! I couldn't…"

"I'm pretty sure you can pick out something we all like."

"I'm not sure everyone would like it…"

"Please. I insist."

"…"

"…?"

"Somehow, I think that this would continue on forever if we don't stop…"

"Good idea."

"Can't you pick?"

"No, I can't."

"You know what? We'll just skip out on sushi with fish in them. Hmm…I know! I'll prepare something that I haven't made in a while!"

"What is that?"

"It's a spider roll!"

"Spider roll?"

"It has fried soft shell-crab, with either cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts, lettuce, roe, or spicy mayonnaise."

"Sounds good."

"But what combination would you like?"

"Back to square one—"

"Okay! Okay! I'll pick! How about avocado, lettuce, and spicy mayonnaise!"

"Sounds like a weird combo—"

"I'm sorry! I'll pick something else—"

"It's okay! We can stick with that!"

"Really?"

"Sure. So long as it tastes good."

"Okay!"

* * *

Xunakiy skipped over to the kitchen while I walked. When she passed some of the members and waved, most of them smiled. I guess they're somewhat happy that this ball of bouncing sunshine is back in the castle. When we got there, she rummaged the fridge.

"Where is it…?"

"I'll help you look—"

"Good. Check the freezer for any ingredients."

"Okay…?"

It was hectic looking for the items, and Xunakiy would have the occasional fit every few minutes. After fifteen minutes, we finally got what we wanted. Those things…except the rice.

"We finally got everything!" Xunakiy cheered.

"Except the rice." I added.

"Except the ri—HOLY CRAP!"

"Here it comes…"

"WHY THE HELL DID I FORGOT THE RICE!? I HATE MY FORGETFULNESS! BUT MOSTLY, I APOLOGIZE TO THE WORLD FOR BEING SO FORGETFUL! AND ZEXION, I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MAKE SURE WE HAD RICE!"

"It's all right…"

"NO IT IS NOT ALL RIGHT!"

"Calm down, woman!"

"Okay…I just hate it when I forget about important things like breakfast…"

"Breakfast isn't that important—"

"Yes it is! I read that breakfast is THE most important meal of the day!" She said while waving around three fingers in my face. And then she playfully hit me on the head. "Oh well, to make sure we don't skip out on breakfast, I'll hurry up on the rice…"

She quickly prepared the rice, and she was smiling weirdly throughout it. I decided that I should go help her. I brought Axel to the kitchen, which he took in rudely, because he was in the middle of an argument with Demyx.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BRINGING ME HERE FOR!?"

"Oh, Axel-senpai! How is your morning? Zexion-kun, why'd you bring him here?"

"I brought him to heat up the rice."

"Why should I—"

"Because without the rice, you won't get to eat breakfast."

"Fine." He proceeded to heat up the pot of rice and quickly exited the room.

"Okay! Now all we need is to roll them up! Zexion-kun, you can just wander around the castle if you want. Preparing all the sushi for everyone will take up at least fifteen minutes…"

I followed her advice, and just decided to storm the library.

* * *

I never thought about it, but my library looked a lot like the one in the Northern Castle back at Teien. I wandered the halls. Looking for some new books to read, if there were any. And then I found this new hall of books, which had never been there before. I decided to rummage through it, and I placed some already stacked books on a nearby table.

"I might as well get started." I said to myself.

I opened up a book, which had old folktales and things like that. I was never one for stories, but this actually piqued my interest. They usually told of imaginary beings and made many references to them.

"Zexion-kun! Breakfast is ready!" I heard someone shout behind me.

"Xu-Xunakiy!" I shouted back while turning around. "Did fifteen minutes pass that fast already?"

"Yup!"

"Wow. Time flies. You can just go back and eat with everyone else. I'll just put these books back." I put the stacks of books in my hand and put them back where I found them. When I wanted to stretch out my arms, I caught one of them on something.

"What the—?" I turned back, and it was some sort of web. I tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. "Xunakiy?" I called out.

"You called?" She asked. Then she smiled when she saw my dilemma. "Oh, Zexion-kun! I'm pretty sure you can take care of an old cobweb!" She swatted it all away, and took my sleeve. "Let's go before it's too late to eat and we lose our appetites!"

* * *

As it turns out, we were the only ones at the table, but we were okay with that.

"Itadakimasu!" She clapped. She wanted me to do the same thing before I started eating.

"All right, all right. I-tai-dah-kay-mas-soo?" I tried to sound it out. She said it too fast the first time.

"It's okay for you to be making that mistake." She giggled. "But I wonder what would happen if you ate out somewhere in my world, and other people observed your eating habits?"

"Would it be rude?"

"Sort of. Okay! You sound it out. I-ta-da-ki-ma-su!" I repeated, which made her happy. "You got it! Now let's start eating!"

We dug into our sushi, and Xunakiy occasionally dipped one in some sort of sauce. There were less than ten sushi, but they seemed to fill my stomach up pretty quick. I even had leftovers. We were done quickly, and then she asked me if I wanted to play "Go Fish" with her and the others in her room. I said I would come, and she had the usual response of a sweet smile.

* * *

The ones playing were Xigbar, Demyx, Axel, Roxas, Marluxia, Larxene, Xunakiy, and me. Nobody wanted to play with Luxord because everyone knows that he would cheat. So, we borrowed his cards.

"Okay…uncle Xiggy, do you have any nines?"

"Damn it. Here you go, bubble-boy."

"Thank you!"

"My turn! Okay, Roxas, do you have any threes?"

"Sorry, Axel. Go fish."

"Why the hell do I suck at this game…?"

"Shut up, flame boy. Okay, Demyx, you got any kings?"

"How did you know?"

"Fork 'em over."

"My turn! Axel-senpai, do you have any fours?"

"Why the hell do I suck at this game…?"

"Axel, this is a game."

"Shut up, Little Bookworm."

"Vexen told you, didn't he?"

"Yup."

"I'm gonna kill him. Anyway, Xunakiy, you have any twos?"

"Sorry, Zexion-kun. Go fish."

"Hmph."

This continued for about ten more minutes, until Demyx turned out to be the victor. But throughout the game, Xunakiy kept waving her hand in front of her face. She was either swatting flies, or something else. Everyone cleared Xunakiy's room shortly after.

"Xunakiy? Is there something wrong with your eyes?" I asked.

"N-no! Th-there i-isn't anything wrong w-with my eyes! Nope! Nopity-nope!" She was covering the right side of her face. She was smiling weirdly, and then it turned into a frown.

"There's something isn't there?"

"Yes. For some reason, I…"

"You…?"

"I…can't see out of my right eye." Of course I was shocked upon seeing this. But I was even more shocked by the fact that this related to my dream.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know. When the Go Fish game started, my right eye started to get a little blurry, and then I just couldn't open my eye after that."

"Let me look at your eye for a bit." She nodded. I looked closely at her right eye, and then I noticed something out of the ordinary. Her eye was shut, but her eye couldn't be opened, because of some sort of web that was covering it.

"What is it, Zexion-kun?"

"I-it's nothing. It must've been something you couldn't have noticed until now."

"I guess…"

"You might want to cover that up with something. The others might worry."

"Okay. If you say so…"

"Okay, I'll go now."

"Zexion-kun. Wait."

"What is it?"

"Whatever you do. Please. Don't worry about this."

* * *

When I left the room, I had a feeling it had something to do with the incident in the library. Webs don't just form in front of your eyes like that. Maybe it wasn't a cobweb that I had caught my arm in. a spider was probably living in it. I ran to the isle in the library where the web was in, and I found a large yellow spider sitting on a book lying on the floor.

"Why hello there…you adorable little worm of an intruder." It greeted. I just stared at it. "I see you're not used to talking animals before."

"Why did you blind my friend's right eye?"

"Because she destroyed my home."

"It was an accident—"

"If someone destroyed something that belonged to you—accident or not—you would still hold a grudge against that certain person."

"Not really—"

"You might not. But what of the many other people scattered throughout the worlds. Obviously there are more people that you can count that would act like that."

"But why her. I was the one that got caught up in your web. If I never got caught in your web, she might not have swatted it away."

"But she simply destroyed my home."

"Would there be any way to reverse it?"

"Going this far for a simple friend of yours…I like that."

"Answer my damn question!"

"All right, all right. I would have if I could have, but I cannot retrieve it. Unless…"

"Unless…what?"

"Unless you are willing to give up your right eye instead."

I thought about it. Being blind in my right eye wouldn't be so bad. I couldn't exactly see anything beyond my side bang, but Xunakiy needed it. Besides, it would be pretty creepy if you had your eye covered by some mysterious web. Plus, Xigbar would be nagging her about it for a long time. At least I was used to it.

"Fine. Just don't put a web over my eye. It looks plain weird."

"For an adorable little worm…you are quite brave."

I was knocked out.

* * *

"Zexion-kun! Zexion-kun! Wake up!" I woke up to see Xunakiy in front of me. I sat up. "Zexion-kun! You won't believe it! My right eye…it's completely healed!"

"You don't say." I wasn't looking at her, which she noticed.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

"Not much."

"Is there…something you're not telling me?"

"You could say that."

"What is it?"

"Nothing you should be concerned about—"

"I'm sure I'll keep worrying about it if you don't tell me!" As if she read my mind, she brushed aside some of my hair to see my eye, and she gasped.

"It's not as bad as you think—"

"Of course it's bad!"

"I did this by my own choice! Why do you need to worry about—" She slapped me, really hard I might add. I slowly turned my head back at her, and I saw that she was crying.

"I have to worry…because I am your friend!"

"Xunakiy…"

"It's my fault you had to do this…" She just broke down on her knees, put her hands on her face, and started sobbing. "It's my fault…" She kept mumbling out.

"Don't worry." I knelt down beside her. "No one has to take the blame for whatever happened today. Not you, not me, or anyone else." She slowly took her hands from her face. "If you cry like this, then everyone will worry. You don't want that, do you?"

"I-I don't want anyone to get themselves into trouble because of me." She said as she shook her head. "First you have to rescue me, and now this…"

"Whatever we do…it's for you not to get in trouble. We always want to see that idiotic smile of yours. That alone would make everyone else happy. Everyone cares about you."

She just responded with a sudden hug. "Thank you…Zexion." She choked out. And then she asked, "Does my smile really look idiotic?"

"It's the only kind that everyone likes."

She let go of me, and then she stood up and smiled.

"Now how about you get off the floor! You missed lunch! I thought that all this time, you were reading! I didn't want to disturb you, but now there's this!"

I took a deep breath and started laughing.

* * *

I took a short trip to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and saw that my eye was completely white, with a barely noticeable hint of blue in it. I later met up with Xunakiy and we decided to wander the halls and wonder what the other members were doing. Axel and Demyx were playing a video game, with Demyx winning. Luxord and Xigbar were playing a match of strip poker, which I didn't let Xunakiy see. Marluxia was gardening, as usual, and Larxene was busy torturing stuffed animals.

THWACK!

"Zexion-kun! Are you alright?" I bumped into a wall.

"I'm fine."

"Be more careful."

"Stupid right eye. I had no problem with it even though it was always behind my hair."

"Well, you're going to have to get used to it. You know what? We can try looking up a cure to this curse in the library!"

"Wha—?"

"C'mon!"

She dragged me back to the library.

* * *

"Okay, let's look in the new isle!"

"Okay…"

We both tried to look up a book with curses or spiders in it, but we both took a long time.

"Did you find anything yet, Zexion-kun?" Xunakiy called out.

"Nope, not yet…"

I had to resort to using a ladder to find which book I was looking for. I finally found it. It was titled "How to Dispel Magic Curses". I reached for it, but when I tried to pull it out, it wouldn't budge. As if someone was pulling it back from the other side.

"Ok, one…two…three!" I pulled it out as hard as I can, but I fell off the ladder. Good thing it wasn't so high.

"Zexion-kun! Daijobu!?" Xunakiy asked.

"I'll live. Now let's see…ah!"

"What is it?" I looked in the book, and it was in a language I couldn't understand at all. "This book is written in a different language…"

"It's written in my language!"

"Okay, can you read out loud what it says?"

"Okay…'If you are cursed by a spider by destroying its web, you must'—YAAH!" Suddenly some of the letters started floating up, and they formed into some sort of…snake? "Oh no!"

Suddenly, the creature floated up and started "eating" the words. Both of us were stunned. Xunakiy tried to slowly reach for the book, but then the creature snapped its mouth at her hand. Then I slammed the book shut with it trapped inside.

"That's taken care of—"

"Idiot! The bookworm's gonna eat all the words!"

"That's a real bookworm?"

"Yes! And we have to stop it from eating all the words!"

"Do you want it to bite off your hand!?" I tried to grab her arm.

"If it means getting your right eye back, then yes!" She shook her arm away and then she opened the book up again, with the bookworm snapping at her wrist and making it bleed.

"Get away from me you dirty little—" She pulled it off by its tail and then she threw it against a bookshelf, but it quickly came back again.

"Zexion! Get your own book and destroy that thing!"

I had never seen her like this. She was…angry, frustrated, enraged, a lot of supposed negative 'emotions'. It was hard to believe that she was the same person who was crying her eyes out ten minutes ago.

"Zexion! Did you hear me!? Just destroy this thing—" She glanced at the book, which had nothing on the two pages that were supposed to hold the cure for the curse. "DAMMIT!" I heard her yell, which could've been heard throughout the entire library, or even outside of it with shut doors.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" She kept yelling. "You know what? Without you, things could've gone a lot more smoothly!" When the bookworm lunged, she mercilessly stepped on it, and kept furiously stepping. I could even hear that thing writhe and yelp in pain. It was…scary to watch her. Then she finished it off by slamming four books in rapid succession on top of it. After the fourth, the bookworm simply dissipated.

"Xunakiy—"

"Shut up! If you didn't hesitate, we could've read what could help—" She looked dumbstruck, and then she broke down in tears once again. It was the same spot where she cried last time, and it seemed a lot like déjà vu. "I'm so sorry…"

I was about to help her up, but for some reason, the whole room seemed to stretch, and then new bookshelves started growing from the floor. I tried to reach for Xunakiy, but then a bookshelf grew, and I could no longer see where she was.

"Xunakiy!" I shouted as I pounded on the bookshelf.

"ZEXION!" I heard her scream. "HELP ME!!" I heard her pound on the bookshelf, but then I couldn't hear anymore after that last scream.

"Xunakiy!" I began to cry as well. I only realized this when I saw a tear drop from my face to the floor. I ended up breaking down as well.

"Splendid! This is a PERFECT tragic love story!" I heard a sadistic voice cheer while clapping.

"Who…the hell…are you?" I choked out.

"Why Zexion-kun. I thought you would recognize me the minute you heard my voice…"

* * *

((I made this chapter in two days! Yatta! I have a feeling this chapter wasn't so well received…anyway! As always, read and review!))


	13. The Darker Half

Part 13

I turned back, and saw a person wearing an organization uniform.

"Can't you recognize me?" She said as she took off her hood, revealing long snow-white hair with a side bang covering her left eye, having the other eye bright red.

"No. I can't. You're not Xunakiy." I remembered her. She was Xunakiy's dark side. She was everything Xunakiy wasn't.

"Oh foofy. I thought you'd fall for my look like all the others. But I guess there's no fooling you."

"All the others…what did you do to everyone!?"

"I just…had some fun."

"You…"

"Ah ah ah!" She waved her hand, and for some reason, my right eye started hurting from having a sharp pain. I tried to suppress the pain by putting pressure on it, but that made it worse.

"GYAAAAHH!" I screamed out loud. "What the hell—?"

"You see, I was able to 'barter' your right eye from that spider when you were knocked out. I will not tell how." She brushed aside her hair, which revealed a blue eye. My eye.

"You monster…"

"Why thank you! You're just TOO kind!"

"Shut up!" Even though she was a girl, I tried giving her a punch…at which I failed miserably. She sidestepped and took a kick at my stomach, making me cough up blood.

"Wow. You must be pretty weak to let a simple kick like mine hurt you like that."

I kept coughing up blood on the floor, making it turn dark red. I was brought on my knees by the pain, and I couldn't keep my eyes open.

"Poor Little Bookworm."

"Why are you—" I wasn't able to finish my sentence. She went ahead and kicked me again. I wiped off some of the blood on my face, and I glared at her.

"You know, if you want to go ahead and rescue that weaker version of me, go ahead. But I already cast a spell on this library. It has become a maze."

"Why are you here? I thought you were just another side to Xunakiy."

"I was. But her fluctuating so-called 'emotions' were changing from positive ones to negative ones. So you could say that I used that last outburst to free myself."

"Why did you free yourself? There's no point to you being here." I was greeted by a punch to my face.

"Shut up. I'll be able to do what the entire Organization hasn't been able to do. I'll get myself a heart." She started walking around while saying this. "You see, being just a simple side to someone, I don't have my own heart. I've been forced to share my heart with hers. But if I figure out a way to get make her heart my own, I'll be my own person, and I can just kill her off to make sure she won't get in my way."

"You won't lay a finger on her!" I summoned my book, which felt weird to me because I didn't use it in a long time. I sent several pages at her, but she jumped at the last minute and safely landed.

"While you're scrambling your way through this maze, I'll just play around with everyone. But first…" She backed me up into a shelf and then she…kissed me. I immediately forced her off me when our lips touched, and she stepped back.

"Why the hell did you do that!?"

"You just looked so cute while you're suffering. You taste very sweet for someone who likes a goodie-two shoes like her. I have some other plans for you, so don't worry. And there's also some fun for everyone…" And she warped out.

"DAMMIT!" I shouted. I hit a nearby bookshelf, which I shouldn't have done because I wasn't one that had good physical strength. I winced in pain, and I slowly took off my glove, and my knuckles were bleeding. I decided to not mind it for now and I put the glove back on.

How was I going to find Xunakiy? She's probably crying her eyes out right now. I started through the first hallway of books that I spotted. I ran through it, even when I got tired, but I reached the end of it, I saw stairs going at impossible angles and hanging from either walls or the ceiling, and I couldn't see very far from my view how long it went.

"Damn! This is impossible!" I took a deep breath and went down the hallway to my right. I ran through, and had to rest against a wall to take a breather. There had to be some way out of this. I decided to close my eyes to think. For some reason, there was a bright light in my right eye. When I opened my eyes, nothing, and when I closed my eyes again, the bright light was there.

"What the hell?" It turned into some sort of pathway. I decided to follow it. It seems that eye could see more than just a black background. But with each passing minute that I had my eyes closed, I got more and more sleepier. I ended up sleeping.

* * *

I found myself in a hallway of the castle. Everything seemed eerie with nothing happening.

"This dream seems stupid. Where is everyone?" I got my wish. Vexen ran down the hallway and passed right through me.

"Stay away from me, you Xunakiy rip-off!" He yelled. I was confused. I looked over, and Xunakiy's dark side was there, with a smile that just screamed, _I want to kill you_.

"C'mon you old geezer! Can't you put up a fight!?" She shouted.

"I am NOT old!" He brought out his shield, and blasted ice at her. She quickly dodged and brought out a weapon of her own. I was expecting it to be the microphone, but it was actually a whip.

"Let's see you handle this!" She yelled. She thrusted her whip forward and Vexen was able to block it with his shield.

"I was thinking that you knew about my shield."

"I know plenty!" She thrusted it forward again, but it was aimed toward a certain side. It wrapped around Vexen's arm, and she threw him against a wall. She recoiled her whip and held it at her side.

"Curse you!"

"I know that you're left-handed. So it would be less of a possibility that you wouldn't worry much about your right hand. And as I said before, can't you put up a fight?"

"Shut up!" He froze the ground, which made Xunakiy's double slip and fall.

"Not bad, but can you do even better?" While Vexen tried to jump away, she caught a hold of his leg and threw him against another wall, and I think I heard something snap. Vexen sat up, and started coughing up blood and he clutched his side.

"Damn you…" And he passed out.

"Vexen!" I heard someone else shout. Marluxia cam rushing around the corner, with Xigbar quickly following.

"What did you do to him!?" Xigbar yelled.

"I had some fun." She replied.

"You're not Xunakiy, are you?" Marluxia asked her.

"Nopity-nope!"

Marluxia and Xigbar responded with summoning their weapons. Marluxia disappeared and reappeared again right above her. He threw his scythe at her, and gave a smile, but it melted into a frown when she caught it.

"Not quite." She threw it back at him, and with nothing to protect himself, he received many cuts from his own weapon. He landed on the floor with blood seeping out through the new holes in his uniform. "Poor little Marly…"

"You're going to pay for that!" Xigbar shouted. He aimed several bullets at her, which she dodged with ease. Xigbar scowled and he aimed even more bullets at her. She picked up Marluxia's scythe and deflected them all.

"Is that all you can give me?" She dropped the scythe and got her whip. She attacked Xigbar's hands, which made him drop his guns, and then she wrapped the whip around him, and then swiftly pulled it off him, which made him bleed and fall to the floor.

* * *

I woke up with a deep breath. I had to get Xunakiy out of here and then help all the others. I closed my eyes, and followed the pathway again. I got a little sleepy, but I slapped myself to stop myself from dozing off again.

"How the hell do I find her!?" I shouted.

"_I was so happy you were laughing, with a smile that melts everything away._

_Spring is still far away, inside the cold earth, waiting for the time to sprout…_" Someone was singing beautifully. I'm pretty sure it was Xunakiy. That's it! I could just follow where the sound is coming from!

"Keep singing…" I muttered to myself.

"_Spring is still far away, inside the cold earth, waiting for the time to sprout._

_For instance, even if today is painful and yesterday's wounds remain, I want to believe that I can free my heart and go on._

_I cannot be reborn, but I can change as I go on, so let's stay together always… _"

I nearly fell down a staircase as I ran through all the hallways of the impossible maze. The voice was gradually getting louder…

"_Smile at wonderful things and keep smiling, because that alone can keep me happy._

_I want things to be simple, so let's finally get across this sea of mournful sorrow._

_For instance, even if today is painful, it will someday become a warm memory if you leave everything up to your heart._

_I understand the meaning of our living here, it is to know the joy of having been born, so let's stay together, always…_"

I was getting closer and closer…just one more hallway. I ran forward until I saw her. She was closing her eyes while singing, but she was just humming for now, and then she started singing again, but this time, in a different language.

"_Tatoeba kurushii kyou da to shite mo, itsuka atatakana omoide ni naru kokoro goto subete nage daseta nara._

_Kono ni ikiteru ima ga wakaru yo umare ochita yorokobi o shiru, let's stay together, always…_"

She looked back, and saw me. I simply waved. She started crying…again. I walked over and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"You know…you should stop crying all the time." I said to her.

"Umm…uh…I wasn't crying!" She smiled weirdly and wiped her tears from her eyes. "I was just so happy that you found me is all! I wasn't crying!"

"Yes you were."

Her smile got a little bit weaker. "All right."

"C'mon. We have to go. Your other side is injuring everyone."

"_She_ came out!?"

"Please give an actual name." We both started running through the maze.

"Okay…well, I had several nightmares about her when I was about six or seven, and I always called her a Karasu. She was a scary person."

"But what does it mean?"

"In my original language, it meant 'crow'. The sight of one would freak anyone out, and people were freaked out when they saw me as her. That's why I called her that."

* * *

We didn't have to look far for the exit, but if we knew what was just outside the doors, we would've had a second thought.

"Why—why is everyone—?" Xunakiy kept stammering. "Why is everyone almost dead!?"

Xunakiy hugged me so she could shield her eyes of the sight. Everyone was practically bleeding like mad and most of them were unconscious.

"Xu…na…kiy…" We heard someone choke out. "Ze…xi…on…" Xunakiy looked back to figure out who said it. He was lying on the floor, with one hand still on his broken sitar, with five cut strings.

"Demyx-senpai!" Xunakiy screamed. She rushed over to him, and helped him sit up against the wall.

"Xunakiy…Zexion…what took you so long?" He weakly asked.

"Don't talk. You need to rest. Who did this?" She asked.

"It was someone who looked like you. But I knew it wasn't you because you would never do something like this." Demyx coughed up blood.

"Demyx-senpai!"

"You need to stop her…"

"But…I don't know if I can!"

"Sure you can—ow…you just need to have a little faith!"

"Demyx-senpai…you can count on me!" Demyx smiled, and then he dozed off. What was funny was that Xunakiy thought that he was dead.

"Oh no! Demyx-senpai is—" She stopped when we both heard him snoring. "Thank goodness…"

"If you had a heart, you would've had a heart attack by now."

"Eh heh heh…Let's go!"

* * *

We heard an explosion shortly after that, and we guessed it was Axel's turn to be beaten up. We rushed down the hallway, turned right and witnessed the battle.

"You two are the ones that have lasted the longest against me. But I can tell that you're going to break." Karasu said.

"We…aren't…done yet!" Axel shouted. He shot out a pillar of fire from beneath the ground uncontrollably, and they nearly scorched us.

"Axel! Stop it! You're going to hurt them!" Roxas yelled. "Zexion and Xunakiy are nearby!"

"Why didn't you tell me before—" A whip wrapped around Axel's chakram and it was pulled out of his hand. "What the—?" Karasu took the weapon and threw it at Roxas, who dodged.

"That all?" He asked.

"What goes around comes around." She said simply. The chakram turned around and slashed Roxas' back, leaving a large wound. Roxas fell.

"Roxas!" Axel yelled. "Why you—" His weapon had gone for him too and he was injured as well. Karasu turned our way.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Yuki."

"Shut up! You're going to pay for what you did to everyone!"

"Temper temper!"

"Why can't you be quiet!?" Xunakiy took out her microphone and shouted into it, blasting musical notes at her opponent.

"What a strange weapon…but I guess it fits you seeing as all you can do is cry your eyes out."

"Grr…" Xunakiy started looking enraged. But I put my hand on her shoulder and shook my head when she turned back.

"The only thing I like about you is that you have that cutie over there. Too bad he has bad taste…"

"He does not! A flea and a fly flew up in a flue ee-ai-ee-ai-oh!"

"What lame tongue twisters…"

"But they were the only ones I could think up at the time…Zexion! Are you going to help?"

I forgot that I had to have a part in this fight also, seeing as I'm the only other Organization member in the vicinity. I tried to bring out my weapon, but instead of my book, I brought out my sword.

"Where'd you get the sword, Zexion?" Xunakiy asked.

"I got it while you were in a coma." I took a fighting stance, and Karasu smirked.

"I can see this is no laughing matter…" I heard her mutter.

"Night Magic: Heavenly Wolf Blade!" I shouted. I swung Hakuro down, and it brought a large shockwave that knocked her back. She smiled, but then she noticed blood seeping out through her left arm and her cheek.

"Damn you!" She went for me, and then she wrapped the whip around my neck. I struggled to get it off me, but to no avail. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I pulled at it, and that didn't work either.

"Zexion!" Xunakiy shouted. She was enraged, and then she clamed herself down.

"What are you going to do!?" Karasu menacingly shouted. "I bet you're going to run away and leave him to die!" She pulled even harder, and my vision started getting blurry.

"_Kono nukumori wa doko he yuku no _

_Ashita ni nareba kiete shimau no _

_Mune no kodou wo awaseta naraba _

_Onaji fukami he orite yukeru no_

_Itsumo itsumo soba niiru yo _

_Donna tooku kimi no kokoro ga mayottemo…_"

While Xunakiy was singing with her eyes closed, there weren't musical notes that were shooting out. There were letters of Xunakiy's language that shot out. They were aimed directly for us. Karasu threw me at a wall, and she jumped away.

"_Kura yami no naka ni futari de tadayoinagara _

_Mujaki na kotori no you ni tsubasa wo yosete ita _

_Sabishii toki ni wa egao ni kakureru kimi wa _

_Tokenai kotori no yaiba kono mune wo sarashite _

_Dakishimeru…Zutto…_"

The letters immediately stopped when they were about to hit me and shot back towards Karasu.

"Damn you and your singing!" She had to jump and dodge all the letters, but she failed to do so. Most of them exploded upon impact and she started bleeding. Karasu got her whip out and lashed out. She aimed straight for Xunakiy, but the letters shielded her.

"_Kimi wa hitori de doko he yuku no _

_Furi kaeru no ka kowai dakenano _

_Mune no katachi mo kanashii iru mo _

_Honto wa kitto yoku niteru no ni _

_Itsuka kitto kaeru basho wo _

_Futari onaji hakana sade mitsumeteiru_"

Karasu was coughing up blood, and it didn't seem like Xunakiy wanted to stop.

"_Kono yami no naka de donna ni hanarete itemo _

_Kokoro wa nani yori tsuyoi kizuna de yobiatte _

_Sabishii toki ni wa waratte itemo wakaru yo _

_Tsumetai yubi wo namida de _

_Atatamete agedai _

_Soba ni iru…_"

"Magic Wave: Dragon King Sword!" I shouted, launching the last attack.

"Dammit!" Karasu yelled out before I saw a bright explosion. Karasu was no longer there when we looked back again, but I heard something of laughter that quickly died away.

For some reason, I started coughing and I blacked out.

* * *

I woke up, with some sort of stuffed toy in my face.

"Zexion-kun's awake!" I heard Demyx shout.

"GYAAH!" I screamed. I tried to roll over, but then I flopped down on the floor.

"Zexion-kun rolled over like a dog!"

"Where am I?"

"In your room!"

I looked back, and Demyx was covered in bandages.

"You know what? You're lucky!"

"Why? Because I wasn't hurt as much as everyone else?"

"There's that…and Xunakiy really, really likes you!"

"How can you tell?"

"Well, I read something about honorifics in the library, and it says that when someone doesn't use a suffix for your name, they consider you a really close friend…or maybe more!"

"…"

"What's wrong?"

"You're actually reading."

"What the hell is wrong with that?! Oh yeah! Xunakiy's taking care of everyone outside in the hallway. It looks really funny! You should go see!"

I stood up, and then Demyx waved around an animal hand puppet. It was white, with black on its ears, around its eyes, and on its limbs.

"What the hell is that?"

"Say hello to Mr. Dan-Dan the panda!"

"Where'd you get it?"

"Larxene was about to kill him, but I saved him! Didn't I Mr. Dan-Dan?" Demyx snuggled the puppet, which made him look like a small kid.

I just passed him, and walked outside the room. I would've died laughing if I didn't have a heart. But I laughed anyway.

"Stop laughing, Little Bookworm!" Larxene yelled.

"Onee-san, you shouldn't move while I'm bandaging you—"

"Tell him to shut up then!"

I was laughing so hard, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Everyone looked like partially unwrapped mummies because they were bandaged. Almost everyone was glaring at me evilly. But I still laughed.

"Told you it was funny!" Demyx shouted.

"For once—KOFF—I agree with you—KOFF!"

"Good afternoon, Zexion and Demyx-senpai!"

"Hi! Hey, Xunakiy, you have a camera?"

"Why, Demyx-senpai?"

"Because I need one to commemorate this moment! Everyone looks hilarious!"

We all heard a simultaneous "SHUT UP!" from everyone.

"Umm…Zexion? Would it be okay if we went back to your room? I need to discuss something with you."

I was surprised at what she asked. But maybe it would be something trivial. But it wouldn't be something trivial if she wants us to discuss it alone. But what could it possibly be? Was it something good or bad? So many things were reeling in my head.

"Okay…umm…sure?" I accepted. I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

* * *

We both went in the room. When Xunakiy closed the door, I asked.

"So…what's this about?"

"Well, it's…um…err…something important…sort of…"

"How important?"

"Well…I kind of…can't explain…"

"Why?"

"It's because…I'm pretty nervous…right now and…"

"Not to pressure you, but can you hurry up?"

"WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME TONIGHT!?"

We both stared at each other for about ten minutes. Not seconds, minutes. It was like a staring contest. Finally, I said the most stupid thing I could say at the time.

"What did you say?"

"…"

"…?"

"I JUST ASKED IF YOU WOULD GO ON A DATE WITH ME TONIGHT!? CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT!? I'M JUST TRYING TO GET THROUGH THIS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!" She shook me back and forth and she was almost choking me. She was blushing, and I pointed out.

"Umm…Are you all right? You're looking red. I was greeted by a punch.

"OF COURSE I'M ALL RIGHT! IT'S JUST THAT I'M TRYING TO ASK YOU OUT ON A DATE! BUT THAT'S THE ONLY THING I'M NOT RIGHT ABOUT!" She kept giving me punches until I lay on the floor.

"Zexion? Zexion!? ZEXION!?" She picked me up from the floor. "I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO BEAT YOU UP SO BADLY! IT'S JUST A FORCE OF HABIT! I HOPE YOU ARE OKAY! YOU'RE NOT MAD WITH ME, ARE YOU!?"

"No…I'm just fine…"

"THE FACT THAT YOU'RE BEING SO UNDISTURBED ABOUT ALL OF THIS, JUST ASSURES ME THAT YOU AREN'T OKAY WITH THIS! SAY SOMETHING ELSE!"

"Something else?"

"NOT THAT WAY!" She slammed me down on the floor.

"So…are we going out…or what?"

"You mean…we're actually going on a date?"

"Yes."

Another ten minutes of silence, and then Xunakiy asked.

"What did you say?"

"Here we go again—"

"I'M SORRY! IT'S JUST THAT ALL OF THIS IS SO UNNERVING!"

"Okay…so…when do we go?"

"Oh! Okay, so it's around four-thirty right about now, and usually dates start around maybe seven or eight. How about seven-thirty?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay then—"

We heard some mumbling outside the door, and then the door opened, with Xigbar, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, and Roxas all falling onto the floor with embarrassed faces. Xunakiy was confused. I was angry.

"How dare you invade upon our privacy…"

"It was Mr. Dan-Dan's fault!" Demyx yelled out. While he was pointing to the panda hand puppet, everyone was silently pointing towards Demyx.

"We just wanted to hear what you two were going to discuss—" Roxas was cut off.

"And we have heard! A young couple slowly in the making, and it will all begin with a fateful first date!" Marluxia shouted with a sparkle in his eyes. "This day shall be forever commemorated as their day of romance!"

"For once, I agree with flower-guy!" Axel added.

"Yes, I—Hey!"

"We heard your little conversation, and I was thinking that you two would be the perfect example of a stupid couple." Xigbar added.

"Stupid…couple?" Xunakiy asked.

"You bet!" Larxene jumped up. "Stupid couples are the kind that everyone likes! And with you two being nobodies and all, it's just TOO cute!"

"We all agree." Roxas said in a quick manner. I guess he just didn't want to get cut off again.

"If I can make a suggestion…WOULD ALL OF YOU GET OUT OF MY ROOM!?" I shouted.

"Make us!" Marluxia protested.

"I'm giving all of you till the count of three…and if all of you aren't gone by three…Xunakiy will have a new ingredient for her sashimi."

All of them struck with fear, they all fled the room. Xunakiy was inching away with them.

"You can stay here…if you want." I offered.

"Well, I'll just be waiting for tonight." She smiled and left the room.

I was standing for the same spot for another ten minutes, and then I jumped on my bed, held my pillow and yelled as loud as I could.

* * *

((I have a feeling that this chapter was crap. If you read chapter two of this fanfic, you would know who Karasu is, but she is unnamed at the time. Keep reading and review!))


	14. The Date

Part 14

I decided to bury my head in the pillow I was holding until it was time for my so-called "date". I was feeling so many things at the time. I didn't want to go, but yet I was anxious for this date. I was about to ponder this for a few minutes more, but I heard someone knock on my door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Vexen."

"I would've laughed if you called yourself Big Bookworm again."

"I'm over it already. By the way…can I come in?"

"Can you?"

"Alright, fine. _May _I come in?"

"Yes you may."

I heard him come in, and if I heard right, he was giggling. I couldn't see his expression because I still had my face stuck to the pillow.

"What are you so happy about?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." I heard him choke.

"Liar. What is it that you're laughing about?"

"Well, I heard about Xunakiy's proposal for a date!"

"Why did you want to come visit me then?"

"I wanted to give you advice."

I winced at the thought, but I found the courage inside of me to reply to him.

"What advice…do you want to give me?"

"About your date of course!"

"Oh no…"

"First things first! Get your lazy ass out of bed before you suffocate!" He pulled my legs, and I tried to hang on to the bed, but he succeeded anyway. I landed right on top of him.

"Okay, I'm out of bed. Now what?"

"Get off of me!" He pushed me off, but I was still lying on the floor. The way he constantly tried to handle me made me look like a rag doll. When he finally got me to stand, I sat on my bed.

"What advice do you want to give me?"

"Well, let's start off with the first few minutes of the date." I shuddered. "When she comes out of her room, tell her how beautiful she looks. Also—" I rushed past him, and then I tried to run out of the door, but he held me by my collar.

"Please. Let me go."

He pushed me back on the bed. "I just want your first date to go smoothly!"

"Fine…"

"Okay! You should compliment her, but not too much though. Tell her that her eyes shine like a full moon, or that you could get lost in them—"

"You know what? The best thing you could give me is a fatal blow so that I don't have to listen to this."

"You don't want Xunakiy to be sad that you don't like your very first date, do you?"

"Hurry up."

"Okay! Choose a sensible place that she would like. Try not to choose a library—"

"Why not?"

"Because that would be in your interests rather than hers—"

"But she likes books too—"

"Moving on! Try having a relaxing dinner by somewhere scenic, an example being somewhere by a beach. Are you listening?"

"Yes…"

"Good. After that, you should have some activities together. Try going to an amusement park, or an arcade."

"Why should I choose either?"

"You could choose an amusement park because she would hang on to you if there are any rides that include drops. You could also go to an arcade because you two would have fun together."

"What should I do if she asks to go somewhere that I don't know about?"

"Then just go along with it, of course!"

"But what if there are customs that I don't know about and I make a fool of myself?"

"Good luck with that—"

"Kill me. Just kill me."

"Let's just hope that you don't get in that kind of situation. Moving on! After the fun and games, you should go to a quiet place where there's only the two of you."

"I'm afraid of where this is going…"

"And then you make your move!"

"Say what?"

"You heard me."

"Get out of my room."

"Alright!" I felt so stupid when he said that. If it was that easy to force him out, I should've forced him out when he came in. He left.

* * *

I took a short nap, but when I woke up, it was already seven-fifteen. I didn't want to rush though. I rolled off the bed, and landed on the floor. I took a look in my closet, which I felt stupid about because all that was there were organization uniforms.

"Crap…what am I going to wear…" I spotted a white long-sleeved shirt with black jeans. I saw a note written on it that said,

_Dear Zexion,_

_Mr. Dan-Dan thought that I'd give you some clothes for your little date. So, here they are! Good luck!_

–_Demyx and Mr. Dan-Dan_

I put them on and walked outside, with Marluxia waiting.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to give you some cologne!"

"You've got to be kidding me—" He waved a bottle of cologne in my face, and I covered my nose so I wouldn't smell it. I tried to run away, but he caught me.

"It's only going to be a few drops—"

"Shut up and go away! I do not want that crap in a bottle!"

"It isn't crap! I made this out of my very own flowers!"

"No wonder it smells horrible…"

"It does NOT!"

I tried to wrestle him off of me, and he tried to wrestle the cologne on me. He managed to get a few drops on my face, and he got off of me.

"See? That wasn't so bad!"

"Yes it was."

"I can see that you two are having fun."

We both looked to see who it was, and it was Xunakiy. She was wearing the yukata that I made her. I know she would make anything look good, but the way she looked in the yukata was…

"Absolutely gorgeous!" Marluxia shouted. "I knew it was a good thing that I made you wear this work of art that was lying in your closet! By the way, where'd you get it?"

"Zexion made it for me!"

"…"

"…?"

"So our little Zexy's growing up!? This is absolutely splendid!"

"Shut up!"

"Zexion, you shouldn't make such a fuss over a compliment—"

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"It sounded like one to me—"

"I'm sorry but…can we please go before everyone else starts ambushing us?"

"Hmm…"

"Huh?"

"…okay! Let's go! Goodbye, Marluxia-senpai!"

"Have a great time!"

"Thank you!" She grabbed me by my wrist, and dragged me into a portal.

* * *

She had brought me to her home world. It was still a little bit early, but the district looked very different than the first time she brought me over here. The first time she introduced me to the world, it was quiet and there were hardly any people on the streets. But now, there were so many people and there were many lights on. There were large screens placed on buildings that were advertising products, there were vehicles that zoomed right past us, and there were also blinking lights on long poles. At the time, I wondered how I didn't notice these things.

"This place is so different than before…are you sure this is your world?" I asked.

"I'm as sure as my hair is white!"

There were many people passing by us, and they were probably too busy to watch us come out of the portal. Most of them were talking in small devices that they held to their ears, but if they weren't doing that, they were talking to other people while they were walking in a group. One group passed by me and they giggled, and when I heard what they were saying, they all called me cute or said that I would've been a good boyfriend. When I just stared off into the crowd, I started getting a little dizzy. I leaned against a nearby pole and took a deep breath.

"Zexion!" Xunakiy shouted. Immediately something flashed and a mass of people just walked past me, but it was hard to move against a crowd. Pretty soon, I was in the middle of a street, then several people were shouting at me. I took the hint and I tried to run back to Xunakiy, but then some of the vehicles nearly ran me over. I jumped over all of them and took a leap back to her.

"This world is just as dangerous as a world populated entirely by heartless." I said to her.

"Oh, Zexion! It's only dangerous if you don't bother to look at the signs." She laughed and she pointed. I looked back, and there were signs saying "Walk" and "Don't Walk". I felt embarrassed. But the people nearby were still amazed about how I was able to leave the street without injury, so that made me feel all right. I just followed the advice that Vexen stated earlier and…

"Umm…you look umm…pretty tonight." I said after a few minutes of silence. Pretty? What was that? It made me sound like an illiterate grade-schooler. But instead of a deserved sarcastic remark…

"Arigato! Now, where should we go for dinner?" I took a deep breath and sighed.

* * *

"Zexion? What's wrong? You don't want the food?"

"It's just that…I didn't think dates were usually at a noodle cart."

Yes. We were spending the dinner at a noodle cart. It seems like a small meal for an event of this magnitude. But Xunakiy chose the place, and I didn't want to upset her, so we ended up going here.

"Sumimasen. Menyu o onegaishimasu!" Xunakiy said to the cook.

"Dozo." The cook replied and gave Xunakiy a menu.

"Domo!" She took a quick look at the menu, closed it, and gave it back.

"Nani ni nasaimasu ka?"

"Boku wa ramen de gyuniku!"

"Hai, ramen de gyuniku…" He looked towards me. Then he went back to Xunakiy. "Gaikokujin?" He asked while pointing to me.

"Hai." She looked at me, and then she went back to the waiter. "Would it be okay of you talk English?"

"Certainly." He turned towards me and bowed. "And what would you have?"

"Oh, umm…I'd like some noodles with seaweed, egg, and beef." I said tentatively.

"Very well." He turned away to make our ramen.

"Why is it that some people talk English while some speak in your language?" I asked Xunakiy.

"Well, all the foreigners that come here speak English, so we need to adjust." She replied.

"And how is it that he bowed towards me when he found out that I'm a foreigner?"

"Because, young man…" The cook said in front of us while cooking. "Ever since the yellow-eyed monsters came here, we haven't been getting any visits by foreigners, and usually the foreigners are the ones that give us the majority of our business."

"I see. Arigato." I managed to stand up and bow.

"This young man is quite the gentleman!" He said cheerfully. Then he went back to cooking.

"So…after this, where would you want to go?" Xunakiy asked.

"Umm…well, I…umm…how about—" We heard something thud over by a few trees next to us. I had a feeling that we were being watched.

"To save the trouble of you being pressured, let's go to the hot springs!" She said confidently.

"Hot springs?"

"Mm-hmm!"

"And the hot springs are at their best during the winter and spring, so I suggest you grab it while you can!" The cook added once again. "Here you go kids!" He handed us two bowls. One with beef—which was Xunakiy's—and the one with seaweed, chopped up eggs, and beef. "Enjoy it while it's hot!"

"Arigato." Xunakiy and I both said. We both looked, we both blushed, and then both of us looked us down to our food to eat. The bowls were rather small.

"Itadakimasu." We both said while clapping our hands. We both blushed again and then we both took large bites of our noodles.

I knew it was a date and all, but we were both blushing so much at the time that we forgot to appreciate the moment. The cook simply observed in disbelief. We swallowed down all the contents of the bowl in less than five minutes.

"I have received." Xunakiy said while clapping. The cook looked at me, I became embarrassed, and I just clapped to not upset him. He grinned and waved goodbye to us as we walked away.

"Oh! Zexion, can you wait? I forgot something." She ran back to the cart and paid the cook. He looked a little upset when he looked at how much she paid him. I was guessing she paid less than what was needed, but when he tried to give some of it back to her, but she waved her hand, and bowed. He waved one last time as she caught up to me and we both walked away.

* * *

We walked up to the hot spring building and a hostess was there to greet us.

"Why, hello there."

"Hello." Xunakiy said while smiling.

"You have such a pretty smile young lady. Are you two going to use our hot springs this evening?" The hostess asked.

"Yes we are." I answered.

"Unfortunately, we are all booked with only one remaining hot spring left. It seems that six other people have come before you two and they all wanted separate springs. Would you mind if I ask your lovely couple to share a spring?"

"Umm…sure…okay…it won't be that much of a problem…." I stuttered.

"Very well then." She ushered us inside and she gave us towels to wear in the hot springs.

* * *

We exited the building into the small space with the hot spring, which was enclosed by bamboo walls. Xunakiy went into the hot spring first, and then I went in after her. We were turning red and it wasn't only because of the hot water…

"Isn't this relaxing, Zexion?" She asked.

"I've never had anything more relaxing other than curling up in bed with a new book."

"You've never gone to a hot spring before?"

"No."

"This is actually only my second time that I've been to a hot spring."

"Second?"

"My first time was with a close friend of mine."

"What happened to him?"

"One day, he just disappeared. No one knows where he went. But I know he didn't leave because of me…" She looked down and a single tear fell from her face.

"Xunakiy? Are you alright?"

"I'm alright! I wasn't crying! Nope!" She quickly wiped up her tears, sat back and looked up at the night sky. "I'm sorry. I just miss the friends that I used to have…" I looked away, and Xunakiy noticed. "…But I'm also happy being in the Organization."

"Umm…I'm glad to hear that."

"You know, he would've liked a friend like you. Both of you are very alike. You both care about me and you also protect me. I'm very lucky to have friends like you."

"You do know that I'm also happy too, right?"

"O-Of course!"

"Glad to hear that."

For some reason we heard a loud splash coming from the other side of the wall.

"Is everything okay back there?" I called out. No answer. I had a feeling that someone really was watching us. "You know what, I think we should get out of here."

"Yeah…good idea…" We both got out of the water, went inside, dried ourselves, put on our clothes and quickly got out of there.

* * *

"Where to now?" I asked her.

"I don't know…you pick!" She insisted.

"I make bad choices—"

"I don't really care. So long as we can have fun together, okay?"

I thought for a while, and then I asked, "How about we go to that cliff with that beautiful view of the moon? You know, the place you showed me earlier?"

"Well, I don't know…okay."

We walked through the quieting streets of the world. There weren't as many people as when we came earlier, and there also weren't as many cars, which gave me a sigh of relief. We happened to walk by an ice cream cart…

"Hey you kids!" The woman managing the small vehicle called out to us.

"Umm…yes?" Xunakiy answered.

"You two look like you're on a date!"

"Umm…yes, yes we are!"

"Well, you two look like such an adorable couple! How about I give you two free ones!"

"Umm…no, we couldn't really—"

"Come on, I insist!"

"Oh well…"

"What flavors would you like?"

"I'll have banana-chocolate! And what would you like?" Xunakiy turned towards me.

"I'll just have what you just ordered."

"Alright! Two banana-chocolates coming right—oh dear…"

"What is it?"

"It seems we're running short of banana-chocolate…would it be okay if you two shared?"

"No problem!"

Of course there's a problem! We can't be getting closer and closer like this! I should just take her and get out of here. But then she would ask what's wrong, and then I wouldn't tell her, and then she'd get sad, and it would be my entire fault! I'll just disregard these thoughts and go along with this.

"Here you go! Have a wonderful evening!" She gave us a large cup and she waved goodbye.

Luckily, the woman put some spoons on the ice cream. We both shared the ice cream, and didn't taste as bad as it sounded. I took more spoonfuls than her, and she looked surprised.

"You like this flavor a lot, don't you?"

I looked down, and it was nearly finished while Xunakiy barely took two spoonfuls. I felt guilty and just handed the cup to her.

"You should finish the rest, I've been eating way too much."

"No, no. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hmm!"

"Are you _really_ sure?"

"I'm content!"

"Take it anyway."

"Okay…" She quickly finished what was left of it and threw it away by a nearby trashcan. "Arigato, Zexion!"

"You're welcome."

* * *

We walked through the tunnel and got out to the other side. The moon was there, as if it was waiting for us.

"It looks absolutely beautiful tonight." Xunakiy said.

"It sure does…"

We sat down by the cliff and let our feet dangle. Xunakiy yawned and she leaned against my shoulder. I was happy and sad at the same time. I was about to lean against her too, but then it suddenly started to rain. I was upset that it had to be this short.

"Oh, I guess we should get back to the castle then." Xunakiy suggested. We both stood up again and she waved her hand to open up a portal. Nothing.

"Where are we going to go?"

"Let's just try our chances at a hotel."

"Okay. We should also get out of the rain, we could get sick."

"Let's hurry then."

* * *

We found a hotel easily, but then they said that we would have to stay in one of the smaller rooms that only had one bed. That means we would have to share it. And I blushed at the thought. I also thought that too many things were running out for us to be just a coincidence. I dismissed this and we both walked up to our room. There were extra pajamas that were conveniently placed in some drawers, and we both tried them on. Perfect fit.

"This is so cozy!" Xunakiy exclaimed.

"I guess…"

"We might as well sleep."

"Sure…" Before I forgot, I wanted to ask Xunakiy something. "Hey, Xunakiy?"

"Yes?"

"Did you think that there were probably people watching us?"

"I was thinking about that too…"

"And?…"

"…And I think that we shouldn't worry about it!"

"Fine…"

We both climbed into bed and we started off facing straight up at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep at all, and I just kept my hands behind my head. Xunakiy slept soundly, and then she turned towards me and pulled me into a hug. I couldn't help but scream out '_YES!!'_ in my head. I started getting sleepy myself and then I just dozed off with the noise of rain hitting the windows still in my ears.

* * *

I woke up with someone knocking on our door. When I opened my eyes, Xunakiy was curling up beside me and I was holding her in my arms. It was kind of embarrassing for me, and I quietly got out of bed without waking her up. It was still the middle of the night with the rain still going. Whoever was at our door kept knocking.

"Coming." I replied. I opened the door, and I gasped. "What the hell—?"

"I hope you had a good date, because I'm going to end it right now."

* * *

((Try guessing who is at the door! Just try! Also, try and guess who the six spying people are! I'll give you a cookie if you get it right! Anyways, I had fun typing up this chapter, and keep reading and…REVIEW!!))


	15. The Superior's Warning

Part 15

A dripping-wet Xemnas was standing right in front of me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I'm here to tell you to not push things too far."

"Push what—?" He flung something at me. It was my uniform.

"Pushing these fake emotions of yours."

"Why do you need to worry about this?"

"Because you are forgetting that you are a nobody. And as you should know, nobodies should not have hearts, and without a heart…"

"…they shouldn't have emotions."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now get her out here."

"Come again?" I pretended I didn't hear the first time.

"Wake her up." I was afraid of what he might do to her. But I didn't want to let it happen.

"She needs her sleep."

"I don't care."

"Why do you want her?" With one fake smile, he punched me across the face, and it was hard enough to make me spit blood.

"Why? It's because I'm so sick of her." I had to hold the door to make sure I didn't fall. I continued coughing up blood, and I looked back at him when I was through the worst of it.

"Why…are you—"

"She's pulling you away from what you're supposed to be. Nothing. I'm just here to make sure she doesn't tempt you again."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm going to kill her of course."

I knew this was coming. I was just pretending that I didn't know at all. I knew this even before Vexen had warned me two days ago. I remembered our argument that day…

"_Well, I fear you two might develop feelings for each other. And I'm also worried that Xemnas will come to know of this later on. And you of all people would know what it brings."_

"_How can I forget…"_

"_So before you two start becoming attached to each other…you must sever your ties and avoid each other after we complete this mission."_

"_This won't be a problem! Even if we do develop something, what are the chances of Xemnas finding out!"_

"_The fact that you're raising your voice against me is proof enough."_

"_What the hell is wrong with you!?"_

I wanted to protect her all this time, but if I really wanted to keep her safe…I would've kept my distance from her. Now, she's the person that was the most important in my life…and I'm making her pay the price for it.

"_I'm just worrying about you two! Is that too much!?" _

"_I can take care of myself! I can also take on Xemnas!"_

"_But what about Xunakiy?"_

"…"

"_She can never fight Xemnas on her own. That is the most of my worries. If it ever came to her getting punished by Xemnas over this sort of matter…the chances are that she could be killed."_

I never thought it would be this fast. But I wouldn't let my mistake cost her her life.

"You won't lay a single finger on her." I said confidently.

"Oh, and I supposed you can fight in your state?"

"What do you mean?"

"You getting blind in your right eye and all…"

"How the hell could you know about that?"

"If you forgot, I have a friend named Saix.

That's right. He had Saix working for him. Saix could have easily found out about this and reported to him. That lap dog only did what Xemnas wanted him to do.

"I'll just have you follow me after you change." He disappeared. I wanted him to leave me and Xunakiy alone, so I changed into my uniform, put my hood on, and followed him.

* * *

We ended up on the top of a skyscraper that closely resembled the one by our castle. Xemnas was waiting for me, with his weapons ready. I summoned my book, and we prepared to fight.

"I hope you're prepared to die." He lunged at me so quickly that I could barely follow his movements. I dodged a slash from him, but barely.

"Take this!" I sent pages after him, which he quickly countered with lasers.

He slashed at me, which nearly threw me off the roof. I tried to send copies of myself at him, but he quickly threw them aside. I stood up again and sent new books raining down on him. He quickly responded with making a copy of his own and slicing the projectiles down. Both of them went for me after that. _Crap!_ I thought to myself. They took turns giving me blows and knocking me back and forth across the area.

"Had enough yet?" The first one spoke.

"You could stop all of this…" The second started.

"…If you could just let me kill off that whore." They both finished.

"No freakin' way!" I yelled. I brought out Hakuro out of nowhere, but that didn't matter right now. "Kamaitachi!" I brought out the sword and slashed at a distance, sending a tornado at him. He was caught by surprise and was being cut up. But there was only one of them. Where did the copy go?

"I believe you're looking the wrong way." He came up from behind me and made a deep wound across my back.

"I think we're just about finished here." The copy disappeared, leaving the real Xemnas behind. I was bleeding on the floor, and I couldn't do anything as he walked towards me. I tried to inch away, but where else could I go? Off the building? I was dead no matter where I went.

"Stay the hell away from me…" I managed to choke out.

"If I spare you, I would have to kill her. You do know this, don't you?"

I forgot about that. I didn't what to do. Xemnas was slowly approaching, and I didn't know what to do.

"I think you've made your choice." He raised his blade to deliver the final blow, and it went down swiftly.

It was a miracle that I lived. When I closed my eyes, I heard Xemnas strike something, but not me. When I opened my eyes, a familiar old man was standing right in front of me with his blue shield.

"Ve-Vexen!?"

"That's my name."

"How dare you, Number IV…" Xemnas growled.

"I'm sorry, wouldn't you be upset if your date was killed before the entire event was finished?" Someone other than Vexen said. Marluxia warped onto the roof, along with Axel, Demyx, Larxene, and Xigbar. I decided to get up.

"So, you really were spying on us." I said.

"H-How'd you know!?" Larxene angrily asked.

"Well, Xigbar was the one who fell out of the tree and Axel nearly drowned." I looked to the two I mentioned while saying their names, and in turn, they both looked away. "Plus, there's the fact that you are here quite early for someone not knowing where we went." I motioned to Vexen, who simply waved and shook off Xemnas' weapon from his own.

"I don't think you should kill a budding romance like this, oh wise and fear-instilling superior!"

"Silence, Number XI. I believe I do have the right."

"But you just…can't!" Demyx whined.

"Take this as a warning, Number VI." He looked back to me. "The next time I hear you having a non-existent affair with Number XIV, you will pay dearly for it." He warped out, leaving the seven of us alone and silent in the rain.

"So…" I finally started. "Where's Roxas?"

"Oh, him? Roxas wanted to be left out of it." Axel replied.

"So…how was your date up 'til now?" Xigbar asked.

"It was…nice..." I managed to say.

"That's good to know." Larxene said.

"…but it would have been nicer without knowing someone was spying on us!" I yelled at them.

"Well sorry, Little Bookworm, but I think anyone would ditch a theater to see the real thing!" Vexen happily commented.

I was about to smile a little bit, but then I forgot about the huge wound in my back. I tried not to wince in the pain, but instead, I silently took off my cloak and tried to wrap it around the wound.

"What'd you do that for, Zexion?" Demyx asked. "Surely the rain isn't bothering you that—" He looked at my back to see what was wrong. I guess he must've seen the blood seeping out. "What the hell did he do to you!?" He asked frantically. He took off the cloak, and then he saw it, but taking it off violently like that made it hurt…a lot.

"Ouch…" I had to kneel because of the pain, and I tried to snatch the cloak away from Demyx, but he kept it away. "Give it back…damn…you…" I fell to the floor.

"Demyx, give it back, we have to stop the bleeding." Vexen took the cloak and tried to cover up the wound.

"Dizzy…so…dizzy…" I started saying.

"Geez! Don't make us carry you!" Axel complained.

"I'm sorry, Axel…" I blacked out as soon as I finished saying those words.

* * *

I remember opening my eyes and looking up at the ceiling of our room at the hotel. There was barely any light in the room, maybe because it was dawn and the curtains were covering the windows. I was on the bed, with bandages on my back instead of a shirt. I was about to get up, but…

"Xunakiy, please! Don't insist on making this your fault—" Demyx's voice cried out.

"Of course it's my fault!" Xunakiy was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, while burying her face in between her knees and covering her face with her arms. She was crying. "Demyx-senpai…it's my fault Shishou went after him…"

"Don't blame—"

"Of course I have to blame myself! I was the one that insisted on going on this date, I'm the one to blame!"

"But Xunakiy…" Demyx sat down with her.

"You shouldn't fret over this, Xunakiy." Larxene came into the room.

"Why!?"

"Well, our Little Bookworm's alright, see?" Larxene pointed straight at me. I was looking straight at them, but they couldn't see that I was awake.

"But, Shishou is sure to kill him next time he hears about something like this!"

"We'll make sure he doesn't hear!" Axel ungracefully fell into the room.

"How would you do that, Axel-senpai?"

"Still working on that—"

"I'm just going to accept the fact that we don't have hearts…and start living in reality." She quieted down, but she didn't lift her face from its cover.

"Please…" I said weakly. Most of them turned their heads at me. "Xunakiy, I don't care if we can't go on dates anymore…" I slowly rose up from the bed, and looked down. "So long as…we can still see that idiotic smile of yours." I turned to look at her, and our eyes met.

"You…still think my smile is idiotic?" She smiled once again.

"It's the only kind everyone likes." I realized that this should help, seeing as we were repeating our words from our conversation the library.

"You got that right, Little Bookworm." Larxene smiled as well.

"Hello, underlings!" Xigbar yelled as he walked into the room. "What's with all the long faces? You should just see what a beautiful day we're having!" He uncovered the curtains, revealing a bright light.

"Gah! The light, it burns!" The trio screamed, while covering their eyes.

Xunakiy giggled, and then she started laughing loudly, as if nothing was wrong.

"Looks like she's back…" I heard Demyx mutter.

"But it's not as if she ever left…" Larxene responded.

"Good morning, neophytes plus Xigbar and Zexion!" Vexen called out to us.

"Marluxia here with the forecast of a perfectly sunny day to spend while having fun!" Marluxia called out after Vexen. They both entered the doorway, dragging along Roxas.

"Lemme go!" Roxas whined.

"You actually brought Roxas here?" I asked.

"Sure we did!" Marluxia replied.

"Now, where should we go for a fun time?" Vexen asked. Silence was his response.

"How about the hot springs?" Axel asked.

"We can't go because of Zexion's wound getting worse." Larxene stated. "How about the amusement park?"

"I don't think we want to get separated the last time." Demyx cut in. "How about the aquarium?"

"Bo-RING!" Most of them shouted.

"I know! How about a botanical garden?" Marluxia asked.

"No wa—"

"That would be nice." Xunakiy added. Everyone stared at her. "I think going to a place with nice flowers would help Zexion's wound get better."

"Agree with the super nice girl!" Marluxia shouted.

"Xunakiy-chan always has the best ideas!" Demyx shouted in agreement.

"How does a garden help wounds?" Axel asked.

"Well, usually, whenever I got sick, or broke something, I visited the garden. Those visits always made me get better faster!"

"Oh, all right…"

"You know, Xunakiy, Zexion needs to have his bandages changed before we can go…" Vexen happily cooed while resting a hand on Xunakiy's head.

"And I think we should let them have a moment alone!" Marluxia ushered everyone else outside of the room, and it was just me and Xunakiy in the room.

"I think we should close all the curtains." She said quickly. She closed all the curtains in the room, and when she closed the last one, we heard muffled shouts from beyond the room.

Xunakiy walked over, got behind me, and carefully unwrapped my bandages. She never said one thing through all of it. Something was on her mind.

"What's on your mind?" I asked.

"There's…nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"O course I'm sure!" She accidentally tightened the bandages.

"GYAAAH!!" I screamed.

"Crap! I'm sorry…" While I was cringing in pain, I noticed that she didn't enter one of her apology rants. Something really was on her mind. "If you think something's wrong, there isn't okay?"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Fine."

"Fine…what?"

"I'm just worried that…I'll screw this up."

"Screw what up?"

She continued wrapping the bandages. "It's just that…I don't want to lose someone that I care about." She started crying, and the tears rolled off her face and onto my wound, which stung, but only a little bit. "I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"It only stings."

"Oh, sorry."

She wiped her tears and started putting on new bandages. She became silent once more, and quickly finished the job. She was still quiet.

"Xunakiy—?" She hugged me from behind.

"I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. Would it be okay if we went on like this?"

"I'm pretty sure it will."

"But…what about Shishou?"

"Don't worry about him. I'll protect you."

"Are you sure?" She let go, and I turned around to face her. "I mean, if you got injured like this during a battle that lasted less than ten minutes, I doubt you would last longer."

"Don't worry."

"Fine. But you have to promise not to die while you're at it, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay then!"

I quickly got dressed and we both went outside, where everyone was waiting. We checked out of the hotel and went on our way to the botanical garden.

* * *

"Tell me why we're here again." Axel asked.

"It's so we can relax, Axel-senpai."

"I don't find this very relaxing."

We were already inside the large greenhouse, and we all took time exploring it. Demyx tried reaching for a tall sunflower, but to no avail. Larxene was trying to snatch a fruits from trees without being caught. Marluxia was helping out by making dead plants healthy again. Vexen just sat quietly in a small patch of flowers. Xigbar was trying to climb a palm tree. Axel took his stress out on a newly bought toy by squeezing it. Roxas was killing time by chopping up weeds with his keyblades. And Xunakiy was having fun with some birds that got inside, and I was sitting on one of the branches of a tall thick tree. I just watched everyone else.

"Yes! I got some!" Larxene triumphantly cried. She was waving around mangos, bananas, and some apples.

"Darn it! Why can't I reach it!?" Demyx whined. I saw him, trying to climb up a nearby tree branch, but it quickly fell, and he stared at the sunflower angrily.

"Just calm down Axel, we'll be going back to the castle soon…" Axel muttered to himself.

"Why should they ignore plants like this!? Whoever does this should never be able to able to call themselves a gardener!" Marluxia made more flowers spring up where once was naught.

"Almost to the to—WAAAHH!!" Xigbar was almost there, but he couldn't get to the top.

I tried to look for Xunakiy again, but now she was gone.

"Hello, Zexion!" She yelled. I nearly fell of the branch. "Whoops. Sorry." She was on the branch next to mine and birds were on top of her head and shoulders, with one also perching on her finger.

"Seems like you got some new friends." I commented.

"Aren't they cute?"

"Sure…" One of the birds flew onto my head and sat there.

"It likes you!"

"Heh heh…" I leaned against the tree and sighed.

Time passed and we forgot that we didn't eat breakfast. We found dozens of birds walking around and when Demyx disturbed them, they all flew off. It was a great sight to see, especially when feathers started raining down. Xunakiy walked over somewhere and picked up one of the fallen feathers.

"What's so special about this feather Xunakiy?" I asked her.

"Look at it! It's pink! All the birds were white!" She happily held it in her hands.

"It looks pretty! Maybe you should keep it." Demyx suggested.

"Yeah, you're right." She put it in a pocket.

"Anywhere we should go?" Marluxia asked.

"Let's try going to the café that's not too far from here! They have great sweets! Oh umm…Zexion?"

"What?"

"A bird fell asleep on your head." She pointed out.

"It did?"

"Yup."

"Should I wake it up?"

"No, I think you should leave it. It looks cute on you." She smiled.

* * *

The bird flew away and we walked inside the café, and it was quiet and not too many people were there. We walked over to a table and just sat. Unfortunately we had to get separate tables. Xunakiy, Vexen, Larxene, Demyx and I were on one table, with Axel, Roxas, Marluxia, and Xigbar on the other. And I was surprised when a waitress walked up to us, because we recognized her.

"Refia!?" Vexen and I shouted.

"Oh, do I know you?" She asked.

We stayed silent for a while, and then we just shook our heads.

"Okay…welcome to the Kuro Neko Café! How may I serve you?"

"We'll have chocolate cake!" Xunakiy cheered.

"Right away!" Refia rushed off.

"Hey, Xunakiy?" I asked. "How is it that we saw her in one world, yet she doesn't remember us here?"

"Well, there are many cases like that."

"Elaborate."

"Well, one person can exist in one world, while the same person can exist on another world. It's basically the same person being incarnated on different worlds."

"I see…"

"So…the same can be said for any of us, right?" Roxas asked.

"You got it."

We all heard something explode in the kitchen, and out came another friend of ours…

"Yuna!" Larxene shouted.

"I'm sorry I can't get to you right now, but Refia will be there with your order in just a minute!" Yuna rushed back in the kitchen.

"It seems you met several of these people before." Demyx commented.

"We sure did." Larxene sighed.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" She brought out plates of chocolate cake, which made Demyx twitch with excitement.

"Enjoy!" Refia rushed off.

"Don't mind if I do!" Demyx didn't even take a fork; he just lifted his face up to the plate and gobbled it all in a few bites. He was done rather quickly.

"I'm done." He said meekly while putting the plate on the table.

"Wow." We all commented.

"Might as well start." Vexen added.

We quietly ate, while Demyx started napping on the table. Good thing he didn't drool in his sleep. I barely ate anything, and Xunakiy tried to make me eat.

"C'mon. You have to finish it." She lifted up the fork to my mouth.

"I don't want to eat it. Can't I just eat something else?"

"Fine. Excuse me, Mr. Waiter!" Xunakiy yelled while waving her hand.

"Coming." The waiter replied.

"Once again, we spot another." Vexen commented. This time, it was Ingus. I wondered where Tidus was.

"Okay, would it be okay if we had another look at the menu?" Xunakiy asked.

"Sure thing." Ingus handed her a menu, and then she took a look and whispered something to him. "I'll give it to him right away." Then he walked back to the kitchen.

Everyone else finished their chocolate cake, while my plate was still full. I looked over to see what the other table was doing. Axel was having an arm wrestle with Marluxia, with Marluxia apparently winning. Roxas looked worried, as if he bet munny on Axel to win. Xigbar looked triumphant, but the Axel suddenly slammed Marluxia's arm on the table. Roxas gave off an evil smile, which signaled Xigbar to pay up.

"Here you go!" Ingus handed me a plate filled with five small unknown sweets. "It's a new item on our menu. Just try it while it's hot." He walked away to clean up tables. I just stared at it.

"Why won't you eat it, Zexion?"

"Because I don't think I'll like it."

"C'mon, try it!"

"No wa—" Xunakiy quickly got a fork, stabbed a pastry, stuffed it in my mouth, and patted me on my head. It was soft on the outside, with gooey chocolate on the inside. I swallowed.

"Well?"

In response, I picked up the plate, moved to another table, and ate another one.

"That's a yes."

I finished the plate, and put it back on the table and sat down.

"It tasted good." I said quickly, with everyone giving off a smile.

"Are we going or what?" Axel asked while popping up behind Xunakiy.

"Kyah! Axel-senpai, you scared me…"

"Did all of you even eat?" Larxene asked.

"Of course we did." Roxas replied.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Marluxia cheered.

"Okay, let's go then." Xunakiy agreed.

"Wait a minute!" Someone yelled. "You're supposed to pay up before you go!"

"Tidus!" I yelled.

"How'd you know my name?" He asked.

"Umm…err…name tag!" I shouted.

"Okay…Hands in, munny out!" He asked.

"Here you go!" Xigbar happily replied.

"Xigbar! You were supposed to pay me with that munny!"

"Too late."

* * *

We all went back to the castle with happy expressions upon our faces. But everyone else looked upset upon our arrival.

"What's wrong everyone?" Xunakiy asked.

"Something's been eating our stuff." Luxord sadly said while shaking his head.

"Eating?" Demyx asked.

"Yup."

"You know, Marluxia, the culprit has also been to your greenhouse." Luxord said.

Marluxia rushed over to the greenhouse, and then we heard a very loud yell from his direction.

"Don't worry, Luxord-senpai!" Xunakiy shouted. "The detectives are on the case!"

* * *

((The next chapter will be something of a mystery case. I'm not sure what to do anymore. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Review! Press that button on the bottom left! Please!))


	16. Omake Theater Number One

Omake Theater Number One: Elemental Attributes and Card Games

"You can never beat me, Axel!" Demyx taunts.

"It sucks to always be beaten by such an immature kid…" Axel comments.

"Don't worry, Axel! I can beat him up for you!" Larxene calls out while sending a bolt of lightning at Demyx.

"That hurt!" Demyx whines.

"It seems you three like your elemental attributes!" Xunakiy comments.

"I don't like mine…" Axel sighs.

"Do not be sad, Axel!" Roxas tries to cheer.

"That's right! Fire is the best!" Axel shouts.

"I say that ice is better!" Vexen cries out.

"Flowers are so much better, and they're nice to look at." Marluxia cheers.

"Water!"

"Thunder!"

"Books are good to read—"

"Shut up!"

Most of the members soon get into the argument, and it was about to turn into an all out brawl, when suddenly…

"Hey! I challenge all of you to Old Maid!" Luxord shouts. Miraculously, they all agree and squeeze into one room.

"Axel! You're supposed to take a card from me!" Demyx chants.

"Shut up!" He takes a card from Demyx, only for it to be a card he doesn't need. He growls in response.

"Axel's the old maid!" Everyone laughs.

"It suits him just fine!" Marluxia and Vexen add.

Axel takes out his chakrams and nearly burns down the room.

"SHUT UP! FIRE IS THE BEST AND THAT'S THAT!"

"Hey, Axel, would you mind going for a duel?" Zexion asks.

"Eh!?"

"I'm pretty sure I can beat you!"

"Fine."

Later…

"Royal Straight Flush!" Zexion cheers.

Axel growls and turns over the table they're playing on.

"DAMMIT! I HATE THESE STUPID CARD GAMES!"

Looking at the limping Zexion and angry Axel, Demyx shouts, "Nothing can beat water!"

* * *

((Heh, heh. You might probably hate me right now. It's just that I'm pretty busy right now, with a whole bunch of projects due around the same week. Hopefully I can get back to this as soon as possible. Oh yeah, put a review in saying if I should make more Omake shorts! Thank you!))


	17. A Mascot?

Part 16

"Zexion, time to wake up." I woke up with Xunakiy waking me up again, but this time, not so violently. She was just sitting on my bed with that smile of hers.

"Good morning."

"Morning! So, you want to get started on finding the culprit!"

"Culprit?"

"Remember yesterday? There was someone, or something, that's been chewing up stuff around the castle."

"Oh yeah, sure."

"Okay!"

* * *

We both got out of the room and decided to look around for "evidence". We thought that we should start with Marluxia's greenhouse first. We saw him with his head against the wall outside of his room. We interrogated him.

"So, Marluxia, what did the culprit do inside the greenhouse?" I asked.

"Something TERRIBLE!!" He exclaimed.

"I'm afraid we need you to elaborate."

"HOW ELSE CAN I ELABORATE!?" He took me by my collar and started shaking me back and forth.

"Kyah! Marluxia-senpai! Don't do that! It might aggravate his wound!"

"I'm sorry…" He let go and quickly went to a corner to sulk. "It's just that…all those innocent flowers…"

"Flowers? Couldn't you just grow some new ones?"

"I know that but…" He sniffled. "To see flowers destroyed like that…it would've broken my heart if I had one…"

"There, there." Xunakiy gave Marluxia a soft pat on the back. "We shall find the culprit and avenge your flowers!"

Marluxia smiled, but then…

"So until then…" She kicked him in the ass. "YOU GOTTA STOP SULKING, YOU HEAR ME!?"

"Yes ma'am!" He yelped.

"Let's see the damage." I asked.

"It's through the door…" He pointed.

Xunakiy and I slowly opened the door, and…

"Oh my goodness! What could've done such a thing!?" Xunakiy yelled.

All the flowers were hacked off, leaving only green stems behind. The only flowers that were still standing were the small patch of sunflowers, which seemed too high for the culprit too reach. But I could've reached the top easily, and I'm one of the shorter members…

"Zexion! Take notes!" Xunakiy pointed at me.

"Oh! Umm…right…" I took out my book and made a blank page. I made words appear with a simple wave of my hand. "Okay…what should I write? I've never actually been in a mystery case even though I've read so many mystery books…"

"Just write about the case."

"Sure…" I decided to just write down what I thought of a few moments ago.

"Let me take a look…" Xunakiy peered. "Brilliant! With your expertise, we should have this case wrapped up by the afternoon!"

"Bless you, Xunakiy!" Marluxia yelled as he entered the room. "Bring the evil ridder of roses to justice!"

"Thank you! Now where should we go—"

"MR. DAN-DAAAAAAAAAAN!" Someone yelled very loudly. Demyx.

"Looks like we have another victim to interrogate…" I sighed.

"Yeah, no kidding. Oh well, to Demyx-senpai's room!"

* * *

We rushed over to Demyx's room, and found him in the same sad state as Marluxia. I had never seen him like that before. It was an interesting first to see Demyx sulking.

"Good morning, Demyx-senpai! Would it be okay if we ask you a question or two?"

"Go ahead…" Demyx sighed.

"In detail, tell us what the culprit did—"

"HE ALMOST KILLED MR. DAN-DAAAAAAAAN!"

"Oh my…"

" 'Oh my' indeed!"

"Can we see Mr. Dan-Dan?" I asked him.

"Sure…" He sighed. He walked into the room, we waited a couple of minutes, he walked out, and then we saw the damage.

"Mr. Dan-Daaaaaaan…" Demyx whined while showing us the puppet.

Mr. Dan-Dan the panda was a wreck. He had stuffing coming out of right arm. He didn't have a left because it was torn off with stuffing slowly seeping out as well. He also had his left eye missing. It was sad to see both Demyx and the panda that way.

"Explain how you found him this way." Xunakiy asked.

"Well…" Demyx started. "We came home yesterday, and I decided to take a snack. I took some cake I sneaked out of the café and ate it. When I went back to my room, someone came out of it. I couldn't see who it was, because he was fast."

"Go on…"

"Well, I decided to go in my room, and see what they did. I didn't see anything at first, but then, I saw Mr. Dan-Dan, lying on the bed on one side. He looked so peaceful…"

Peaceful? I thought to myself. How the hell could a hand puppet be peaceful?

"Continue…" I asked.

"I was called out of the room by Axel, and we got into another argument. I wasn't able to get back to my room until later that night, and when I did, I didn't care to look at Mr. Dan-Dan because we were both tired. And then I woke up a few minutes ago to find him in this…state."

"Very well, we shall see that the panda-pummeller be brought to justice!"

"Thank you very much, Xunakiy-chan…"

* * *

We walked away, and while I was walking I wrote down notes.

"So…how much do you have there, Zexion?"

"Not that much, but it's still good anyway."

"Lemme see…" She took another quick look. "Good, good! We're catching on quicker than what we thought!"

"Heya, kiddo!" Someone greeted behind us. It was Larxene.

"Ohaiyo gozaimasu, Onee-chan!"

"Morning to you too! Say, did you hear Demyx's scream earlier? That was hilarious!"

"I did, but I don't think it was very funny…"

"Anyways, can I borrow Little Bookworm here?"

"No—"

"Of course you can, so long as it's not anything bad!"

"Thanks!"

Larxene dragged me by my collar and into her room.

* * *

"So…what's this about?" I asked her.

"It's about your little mystery case, Sherlock!"

"You know who the culprit is?"

"Yup."

"Thank you. I don't think I can take any more screa—"

"GYAAAAAAAH!!" Someone screamed.

"You were saying, Little Bookworm?"

Xunakiy rushed into the room.

"Zexion! The culprit has struck yet again! To the crime scene!" She yanked me away before Larxene and I could finish our conversation.

* * *

"M-my cards…" Luxord sobbed. Apparently the culprit went for Luxord's cards and chewed them up. The cards weren't edible, so the cards were mostly crumpled and there were races of saliva on them.

"It's okay, Luxord-senpai—"

"Okay!? How do you call this okay!? This is my lucky deck!"

"Can't you create new ones?"

"I could but…this was my favorite set…"

"I can feel your pain."

"Let me take down notes…" I wrote in about the new evidence, with the chewed-up cards and the saliva.

"We shall bring the card cremator to justice!"

"Thank you…Now will you leave me to sulk…"

"Oh…um…okay…" We both slowly walked away.

"Okay, Xunakiy?"

"What is it?"

"I didn't exactly get to finish my talk with Larxene. Can you let me go to her room?"

"Sure—"

"Don't listen to him, Xunakiy!" Luxord called out. "He's cheating on you!"

"What the hell!? Go away!"

"Don't worry. I know he won't do anything like that. Now you can go to Onee-san's room!"

"Thank you—"

"He's definitely cheating on you!!" He shouted.

"Shut up and sulk!" I shouted back. He snickered, but he didn't anymore when I smacked a book in his face.

* * *

I knocked on Larxene's door. No answer.

"Larxene?" I asked. The door was quickly pulled open and I got a static shock when Larxene pulled me inside and closed the door.

"What the hell—?"

"Quiet! Do you want me to show you who the culprit is or not?"

"But why go to all this trouble?" I asked. Suddenly something jumped right on top of me, and I was face down on the floor looking at scattered black clothes.

"Down, Kimaru!"

"Wha—" I tried to get up, but what felt like a pair of small claws were stepping on my back, and then I saw a large pair of blue eyes staring into mine. It was an oversized bird. When I was about to shout, the bird starting pulling on my side bang. And to top it all of, I was being crushed and suffocated.

"No! Bad boy! Kimaru, stop chewing on Little Bookworm's hair!" Larxene shouted. The bird stopped and jumped off of me, which gave me a chance to breathe. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." I got up. When I looked at the yellow bird again, I saw that it had a large body, a head with almost the same size, a large orange beak, and the big blue eyes I saw. It was fairly small, with the top of its feathery head reaching Larxene's hip. Then I realized what it was. "Is that—"

"A chocobo? Yup."

"How the hell did it get here!?"

"Use your inside voice!"

"Look who's talking."

"Never mind. This little guy was actually in an egg I found back on Teien." Larxene bent down to scratch his head. "His egg was actually far from any nest, so I decided to rescue him, and he hatched earlier than expected."

"Earlier than expected?"

"You see, chocobo eggs are actually supposed to hatch about five months after they're laid, but I guess he was almost there when I found him."

"Oka—wait! So HE'S the culprit!?" I pieced everything together. It explained the 'yellow flash', and why the culprit couldn't reach the sunflowers.

Larxene nodded. "I didn't know he'd hatch until now, and we don't have any bird food in the castle, so I think he helped himself to—"

"To the other member's items?"

"Exactly. But don't tell anyone!"

"I gotta tell Xunakiy!"

"What did I just say!?"

"I'm sorry, it's so Xunakiy can buy food for him. We can't have him chewing up more flowers, puppets, or cards."

Larxene giggled at that. Then she stopped. "You could just buy it yourself. Don't stress out a poor girl like her."

"Fine. But I don't know which kind would actually please a chocobo."

"Get whatever looks like a chocobo might eat!"

"Fine…"

"Now get outta my room!" She shoved me out, and I sighed.

* * *

"Zexion! There you are! I have narrowed down the field to two suspects!" She jumped out from behind me in another hallway. I jumped from the surprise. "Zexion, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you alright?"

"J-just fine…" I told her. But then again, if only she knew who was the actually the culprit. "So…who do you suggest is the culprit?"

"It either would've been Axel-senpai, or Roxas-senpai, but they were with us yesterday, no wait…"

"What is it?"

"Roxas didn't accompany the others when they spied on us, correct? He only came when Vexen-sensei and Marluxia-senpai dragged him along. Gasp! Do you know what this means!?"

"Yes…" I couldn't help but snicker a little bit.

"Roxas-senpai is the culprit!"

" But why would he kill off Mr. Dan-Dan and Marluxia's flowers?"

"Back to square one—"

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU OVERGROWN BIRD!" We heard Luxord shout from his side of the castle.

"Bird?" Xunakiy asked.

"Long story. We might as well check it out."

* * *

"What the hell is this monstrosity that ate my new cards!?" Luxord frantically shouted. Apparently, Kimaru was caught red-handed (red clawed?). Everyone else heard Luxord's shout as well, and they rushed over.

"I have no idea how it got here…" Larxene said while slowly inching away.

"You know something, don't you Onee-san?" Xunakiy pointed out.

"Fine…" Larxene sighed. "Kimaru is a chocobo from the world of Teien, that world where Xunakiy, Zexion, Vexen, and I all went. I decided to pick up this guy's egg, and he ended up hatching earlier than expected."

"That's it then?" Demyx asked calmly, which is a surprise.

"I guess so." Larxene answered.

"We…" Demyx said.

"..must…" Marluxia continued.

"…KILL IT!" Luxord finished.

"You can't kill something so adorable like him!" Xunakiy and Larxene pleaded.

"He nearly killed off Mr. Dan-Dan…" Demyx said.

"…and he decapitated my flowers…" Marluxia continued.

"…and he ate my cards!" Luxord finished.

"But he doesn't know any better, he's barely a day old!"

"Okie dokie artichokey!" Demyx agreed. Apparently he was already over it. "I think Mr. Dan-Dan will understand!"

"I guess we can keep this little guy." Marluxia agreed.

"Yay! So we're all on the same page!"

"Pretty much." Axel replied.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a mascot!" Vexen shouted.

* * *

Our new mascot was a little bit of trouble at first, because there was an incident the next morning…

"Zexion?" Xunakiy asked me.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen Kimaru this morning?"

"No, but I think it's Xigbar's turn to keep him in his room for the night—"

"STOP CRAPPING IN MY ROOM, YOU OVERGROWN SPECIES OF POULTRY!" Xigbar shouted, which was to be followed by the sound of bullets shortly after, which sent chills down both of our spines.

"Oh no! Xigbar-sensei couldn't have—" We rushed over to his room, only to find a steaming Xigbar with both of this guns in his hands. We looked over to the nearest wall, which had a scared-to-death Kimaru standing against it with bullets pinned against the wall and framing his shape. If a chocobo could cry, he would've been sobbing at this point.

"Wha-What did you do, Xigbar!?" I yelled at him.

"HE CRAPPED IN MY ROOM! AND HE WAS KEEPING ME UP ALL NIGHT!"

"THANK YOU! NOW I CAN'T HEAR!"

"YOUR WELCOME!"

"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN YOU NOISY BAKAS!" Xunakiy shouted. Scared stiff just like Kimaru, we sat down on Xigbar's bed.

Thinking that it was all right, Kimaru slowly walked out of the frame made out of bullets and walked over to Xunakiy. Xunakiy scratched his head, and he walked outside with a now happy mood on his face (beak?).

"Now, we need to keep him happy while he's here! SO DON'T UPSET A POOR BABY LIKE HIM!"

"Yes ma'am!" We marched right out of the room.

We were going to put up with Kimaru whether we all liked it or not, and we didn't like it.

* * *

The day after that, I was voted off to get chocobo feed from Teien, with Kimaru accompanying me.

"That'll be 1,500 Saku, please." The store clerk asked. I fished out and gave her some remaining Saku I had from my first trip and I was on my way.

"Well, Kimaru, I think we should try going for a stroll, seeing as we have some free time on our hands, don't you think?" Kimaru squeaked in agreement.

We went walking for a few minutes when we ran into monsters, which greatly resembled giant bugs.

"Oh well, I guess this was unavoidable." I sighed. I put the large bags of choco-feed down, and I took out my book. Kimaru started squeaking very loudly. "What is it, Kimaru?"

Kimaru responded with quickly leaping towards the monsters, much to their surprise. Then it started…eating them, much to _my_ surprise. With Kimaru's VERY hungry appetite, he was able to finish up all five of the monsters that were in front of me.

"That was SO COOL!" A familiar voice shouted behind me. "What took you so long, Little Bookworm? I've done just what you asked me to do! I've been getting stronger! I even learned a new technique!"

"Tidus! Am I glad to see you!" I greeted. "Hey, where'd Yuna go?"

"Oh, she's hanging out with her cousin, Rikku."

"The bartender at Kuroba?"

'That's her! So what brings you back here?"

"Noting much, I just need to get some choco-feed for a new friend of mine. I'm pretty sure you've already seen how dangerous he can be without his food. Meet Kimaru."

"Nice to meet you, Kimaru—GYAAOO!!" He shouted in pain, seeing as Kimaru started biting down on his hand.

"No! Bad Kimaru! Stop biting! Umm…SIT!" He stopped biting, and he sat down. Leaving Tidus' hand bleeding.

"Keep him away from me!" Tidus yelled. "Oh well, I guess you have some things to do. See you later!" He walked off.

I warped back to the castle and sighed when I got there, it seems we had A LOT of work to do.

* * *

((Say hello to the new character of my fanfic! I always liked the mascot for the final fantasy series, and I always wished I could have one, but I knew I never could, so I gave one to my favorite group of characters! Hope you liked this chapter even though it was shorter than the others. Oh yeah, Omake Theaters DON'T count as actual chapters! Press that button on the left and REVIEW!))


	18. Omake Theater Number Two

Omake Theater Number Two: Method of Waking Zexion Up

Axel and Demyx are taking a stroll in the hallway, when they spot a worried Xunakiy rushing through the room.

"Hey, what's wrong, Xunakiy-chan?" Demyx asks.

"Demyx-senpai, it's just terrible!" Xunakiy yells.

"What's so terrible?" Axel asks in response.

"Zexion was getting comfortable reading in here after I got him a new book…"

"And…?"

"He won't wake up! He's been like this since this morning!" Xunakiy points to a sleeping Zexion, who has his head buried in a book on the table.

"Did you try hitting him?" Axel asks.

"Of course I did!"

"Let's try getting Larxene in here!" Axel suggests.

Axel walks out of the room shortly to get a certain blonde into the room.

"This better be something good." Larxene growls.

"It is, Onee-chan!" Xunakiy screams.

"Whoa! You don't have to get upset over…" Larxene leans over to Axel. "What's this about?"

"Zexion won't seem to wake up, even through the methods of our dear beloved Xunakiy."

"Well, that is a problem. I'll wake Little Bookworm up then."

"You will?" Xunakiy asks hopefully.

"Of course! TAKE THIS!" She shoots out a large thunderbolt at the sleeping schemer…but to no avail.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY!?" Axel shouts.

"Demyx, maybe YOU can come up with something." Larxene suggests.

"Well, I've been thinking about this one method…" Demyx starts.

"And…?" Everyone, minus the sleeping Zexion, ask.

"Let me just try it out…"

"I hope you know what you're doing…" Xunakiy hopes.

Demyx walks over to the sleeping Zexion, and whispers in his ear…

"Hey, Zexion, Xunakiy got her heart back, and now she's getting married!" Demyx shouts. Zexion still doesn't stir.

"Well, that was pointless—" Larxene was cut off by…

"XUNAKIY! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS!? THE SCUMBAG WHO PROPOSED TO YOU DOESN'T DESERVE YOU!" Zexion wakes up screaming.

"Well that was one way to wake him up—"

"XUNAKIY! TELL ME WHO PROPOSED TO YOU! I'LL BEAT HIM BLACK AND BLUE!"

"Axel did it!" Demyx points.

"Demyx! Oh crap…"

"DAMN YOU AXEL!!"

* * *

((I had fun with this Omake. Tell me what you think of it by reviewing. Again, sorry for the delay.))


	19. The Girl at the Park

Part 17

"Give me your best shot, Zexion!" Xunakiy yells from a several yards away.

"Do you want me to throw it that hard?" I called out to her.

"I said, 'Give me your best shot!' so go for it!"

"Alright! Here it comes!" I threw it at her.

"Good throw…" Xunakiy swung it as hard as she could. "…but my swing is even better!"

The baseball was flung back a LONG way, so I guess it was a home run.

"Phwee! That was awesome, Xunakiy-chan!" Demyx shouted.

"Arigato, Demyx-senpai!"

"That really was a long way…" Axel started.

"…but can we get the baseball back?" Larxene asked.

"Of course we can!" Xunakiy exclaimed.

"The ball is still up there…" Demyx commented.

"How can it still be up there?" I asked.

"A bird." Roxas replied.

"What?" We all asked.

"A bird spotted the ball while it was flying, and now its being taken away." Roxas answered. We all looked over to the sky, and a large black bird was flying away with our ball.

"I'll get the ball…" Larxene sighed. She brought out her knives, and readied them for a thunderbolt.

"Kyah! Onee-chan! Don't kill it!"

"Don't worry, I won't." She aimed, and she struck the bird with lightning. It began falling, but instead it flew right back up and let go of the baseball. Then we suddenly heard a crash.

"Oh, it must've landed in someone's house." Xunakiy sighed.

"I'll get it." I volunteered.

"For being your loyal friend, I, Demyx, will voluntarily volunteer Xunakiy-chan to accompany you to get the ball back!"

"Nice one, Demyx!" Axel stuck his hand up for a high five, and Demyx's hand went right up there.

"Well, we might as well get this over with." I sighed.

"Why would you want to get it over with?" Larxene asked. "You should do your best to cherish every moment you have alone and feed the fire of your romance!"

"Holy crap! Larxene has been infected by Marluxia's germs!" Axel exclaimed.

"I'm only saying what they should do." Larxene put a hand on her head and shook her head while she scoffed.

"You're saying what Marluxia would say." Demyx smiled.

"You want to start something, bubble-boy!?"

"Bring it on!" Demyx shouted.

"We'll just be going now…" Xunakiy smiled.

"Bye-bye!" Demyx waved. "Now…dance, water, dance!" He brought out his sitar and nearly drowned Larxene with a tidal wave.

"That wasn't fair!" Larxene shouted.

"You snooze, you lose!" Demyx taunted.

"GRAAAH!"

Xunakiy giggled a bit, and she pulled my sleeve to get a move on for the lost baseball.

* * *

"Where do you think the ball was dropped?" I asked.

"Well, the sound wasn't that far away, so we should find it somewhere near the park."

"Like…where?"

"Well, we don't know where it could've landed, seeing as we don't see or hear anyone making a fuss about it."

"Maybe we should try searching around."

"Good idea."

We tried looking everywhere for a broken window, and we also tried asking around, but to no avail. It had quickly passed one hour before we knew it.

"Grr…When the hell are we going to find the baseball? Should we just give up on the search and buy a new one with some extra munny? Hey, Xunakiy, are you listening?" I turned her way, and she was staring at a certain mansion.

The mansion was very tall, even though it had two floors. There were curtains on the second floor that quietly swayed in the wind. The walls were painted a bright orange and there were thick stone arches that separated the gates and the mansion, and the grass on the front yard was green and healthy.

"The baseball…I think it landed here." She said without taking her eyes off the large building.

"What makes you think so? We've passed this thing several times and we haven't seen a broken window on it…at all."

"I just have this feeling that we should check this place out."

"Oh well…"

Not many people were actually around the place, and they weren't making a fuss when we walked toward it. I went along with Xunakiy to enter the gates of the mansion. I figured we should just call to see if we could let ourselves in. When we walked close enough, the city behind us disappeared and it was replaced with a dense forest.

"Hello! Is anyone in there?" I shouted.

"We would like to see if something of ours has been dropped here!" Xunakiy added. No answer. "Maybe whoever lives here is going on vacation. Rich people who own mansions always go on vacation often."

"So maybe we should just let ourselves in."

"Let's go with that."

When we tried opening the gates, they were already unlocked. When we passed through them, they quickly broke off their hinges and started turning orange. Rusting.

"Why are they rusting so fast?" Xunakiy asked while inspecting them.

"How should I know?"

"Maybe there's more to this mansion that what meets the eye…" Xunakiy said in an eerily calm manner.

"Yeah…" When we walked over to the house, something started to smell weird.

"Hey, Xunakiy, do you see something weird?"

"No. Why? Do you?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe there's something wrong with what you ate for breakfast…"

It could've been that. But when I blinked, I saw something flash. I tried closing my eyes for a second, and I saw a completely different mansion in front of me. The walls were cracking and it was almost completely covered with threats that were spray-painted on them. Most of the grass on the ground was either wilted or gone completely, and the arches were broken down with some stone blocks scattered about the yard.

"Zexion? Can you still not bump into anything with your eyes closed like that?" Instinctively, I opened them. Xunakiy looked puzzled.

"It's just that…this mansion looks old and worn out from when I see it with my eyes closed.

"This is not normal."

"Anyway! Let's try getting the baseball back!"

" Okay."

I opened the doors of the mansion, and they quickly fell down shortly after. No surprise. It looked very much like the Northern Castle at Teien. There were two staircases. One to the left, and one to the right. There was a small amount of light coming from the back of the mansion because there was a glass wall in between the staircases and underneath the walkway that connected the two.

"Which staircase do you want to take?" Xunakiy asked me.

"Let's try the left one first."

"Okay then."

We walked up the staircase, and I nearly jumped when I heard it cracking. At least I didn't crawl up the rest of the flight like Xunakiy did. She was almost scared stiff. When we got to the top, she nearly sighed her lungs out, which sounded almost like a wheeze.

"You okay there?"

"I-I'm just fine…"

We turned left to find double doors to a room. The strange thing was that the entire room was white. White walls, white floor, white curtains white table, white chairs, white flowers, white vase, white everything. The only things that weren't white were a few picture frames that held photos with someone's face ripped out in each and every one of them.

"That's weird." I said to myself.

"Hey, Zexion. There's our baseball." Xunakiy pointed out. It was right beside a chair, with someone on it. I was guessing it was a girl that was Roxas' age, with blonde hair, and wearing a completely white kimono, who was staring straight out of a window.

"Oh, um…sorry for intruding on your mansion like this. We were just trying to get something that fell through your window." No response from the girl.

"Oh um…" Xunakiy stuttered.

"Hello?" I walked over to see the girl, and she was just staring blankly out the window, and she wasn't breathing. I was getting a little creeped out. "Xunakiy, can you come over here for a second?"

"What's up with the girl?" She asked.

"I have no idea—" I accidentally nudged her, and she fell from her chair on onto the floor.

"Wait. I get it now." She said.

"What?"

"I've seen many 'like her' before."

"Why did you exaggerate on the 'like her' part?"

"What she is…is a…"

"A what?"

"A corpse."

"What?"

"This girl has been dead for quite some time."

"Then how is it that her body isn't rotting? Not that I wanted it that way…"

"There are many different foods that can actually preserve the body, even after it has died. You know what? Let's just get the baseball and get out of here."

"Good idea."

We picked up the baseball, and got out of the mansion. But not before checking the door on the other side of the mansion, which was locked.

* * *

We spotted everyone in the park, with all of them sitting on small animal figures in the sand. Larxene was sitting on top of a rabbit, Demyx was sitting on top of a dolphin, Roxas was sitting on top of a dog, and Axel was sitting on top of a tiger. That left only two more figures, a crow and a crane. I sat atop the crow, while Xunakiy sat atop the crane.

"What took you guys so long?" Larxene complained.

"You know, we could have just gone over to a nearby restaurant and spent more time while you four starve without a lunch." I growled.

"N-N-N-No, that duration of time was just enough time for us to collect our thoughts! Yeah!" Demyx yelped out.

"Good!" Xunakiy smiled. "Now who wants a homemade lunch made by Zexion and me?"

"No! That lunch was supposed to be for the both of us…" I ran over to a nearby tree and sulked with my head against its trunk.

"If you soliloquize over there for too long, you're going to starve yourself, Little Bookworm." Axel said while already taking a bite out of a sandwich.

"Stop calling me that!" I yelled.

"Bad Axel-senpai! You're supposed to say thanks before you eat!" Xunakiy attacked his hand with a pair of chopsticks.

"Ouch!"

"Itadakimasu!" She clapped her hands and picked up rice from a bowl, and put it in her mouth."

"Fine. Itadakimasu." Axel reluctantly clapped and quickly devoured his sandwich.

"Xunakiy-chaaaaaan!" Demyx whined. "I can't get how to use chopsticks!"

"That's okay, you can just clench both of them in one hand and use it as a shovel to push food from the bowl to your mouth!"

"Yay! That's much much easier!" He did as instructed and quickly devoured his own bowl full of rice and teriyaki chicken.

Everyone else quickly devoured his or her own food, but left a large portion untouched.

"Alright! Now time for dessert!" Xunakiy cheered.

"Ooooh! What's for dessert?" Demyx and Roxas asked.

"Strawberry sherbet squares made by our very own Zexion!"

"Zexion??" Everyone asked.

"So I made something edible, is that so hard to believe?"

"Pretty much." Roxas replied.

Xunakiy brought out a thermos and popped open the lid, which revealed the small pink squares for dessert. Larxene was the first to try one. She popped on into her mouth and smiled.

"This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" She shouted.

"Oh really?" Everyone asks. They all take some, and they all pretty much had the same reaction as Larxene. Unfortunately, they couldn't finish it all, no matter how much they liked it.

"Boy am I full!" Everyone said with bloated stomachs.

"Let's go back to the castle now, I'm pretty sure we've had our fun." Roxas yawned.

Everyone else agreed, but I had to stay behind and make sure none of the leftovers were left behind. Everyone else quickly warped back to the castle.

"Dammit! Why do I have to get stuck with cleanup duty?" I yelled to myself. I suddenly heard giggling. When I turned, I saw a girl sitting on a bench beside a tree. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized. I realized something. She looked exactly like the girl from the mansion. The corpse.

"Wait. Aren't you—"

"Did you go to the mansion?"

"Oh, umm, yes. Is that a problem?"

"No. I just wanted to make it clear that that was my twin sister that you found in the mansion."

"Why haven't people given her a proper burial?"

"For some reason, a certain force doesn't let people come near that mansion."

"I see."

"What is your name?"

"My name?"

"Yes."

"It's…um…Zexion."

"Your name sounds original. I like that."

"Oh, um…thank you."

"Your welcome." She smiled, and she had a smile that rivaled Xunakiy's.

"Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No. Not yet."

"Feel free to take these leftover then." I took out the small box that held everyone's leftover lunches and I also brought out the thermos with the strawberry sherbet.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, and it makes my load a lot when I go back home."

"Thank you."

"Your welcome." I tried to smile, but then the girl frowned.

"You're lonely, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"Your smile…you should look happier when you smile. It gives away the fact that you are lonely."

"Is it that obvious?"

"I should know, because I'm lonely too."

"Why?"

"Because…I had lost someone who was dear to me. You and him are similar."

* * *

I came home with surprised faces. Everyone asked for what was left of our lunch and dessert, and they saw that I didn't have it. I told them that I was overwhelmed with heartless and I had to leave the food behind to distract them. They left me alone shortly after that.

"Who did you give the food to?" Xunakiy asked me after everyone else left.

"Eh!? H-How did you know!?"

"I have power over sound. I can tell whether or not someone is lying. So…who did you give the food to?"

"Well…it was a girl about your age. She was nice, and she didn't have any lunch yet."

"Oh, I guess that was nice of you!"

"Yeah—" I started to cough violently for a few minutes. As usual, Xunakiy fretted all over the place, but that didn't help. It wasn't that long, but my lungs hurt after that.

* * *

"Oh. You're back." The girl greeted me once I came back to the park. This time, I was alone.

"Yeah. I made you some more of that sherbet that you liked so much!"

"You don't have to keep doing this."

"I'm doing this because I want to, so don't worry about it—" I started coughing more violently this time. I coughed up more blood than yesterday.

"You should stop seeing me." I thought about it. I had actually been seeing her for a week.

"I'm fine. I'm alright." I assured her. I sat back on the bench.

"If…if that's really okay with you…Oh well. Have you sampled your dessert yet?"

"Well, um…no."

"You should try it yourself."

"I'm fine. Really. I like to make other people happy." I smiled.

"You are still lonely, but you are a good kid. I hope you stay that way for only a few days more."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

"You're lonely too."

"What?"

"I can see that you're lonely too."

"You shouldn't worry about me." She turned away from me.

"I'm still going to see you tomorrow, though."

"What!? You shouldn't see me anymore!"

"Why?"

"I thought you would've figured it out by now."

"I haven't. See you tomorrow."

* * *

"Zexion. I've been seeing you less and less around the castle this week." Xunakiy says as soon as I get to the castle later that day.

"I'm um…busy with stuff."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright. But make sure you're not overworking yourself."

"I'll make sure—" I had another violent coughing session, but this time, I coughed up more blood, and I blacked out.

* * *

I had a fairly short dream. I saw the girl I was meeting up with at park. She was alone, and she was looking around, probably for me. When she stopped looking, she lifted her hands to her face and started sobbing.

When I woke up, I was crying as well. I was in my bed, and wearing my sleeping clothes. I wiped off my tears, got out of bed, and opened up a portal. I was going to see her for the last time.

"Why are you here? And why are you wearing pajamas?" The girl asked me.

"I just wanted to see you one last time." I started coughing and I fell off the bench.

"No. You shouldn't have gone. The closer you are to me, the closer you are to…to your own death!"

"You were lonely."

"What?"

"I was hoping that both of us wouldn't be lonely anymore."

"Truly, you are a kind person. To go this far for a stranger like myself."

"Are you…not a normal person?"

"I-I'm already dead. I am a ghost. That was my corpse that you saw at the mansion."

"Why is it that you're like this?"

"I had someone that I loved. He was a kind person, like you. We were engaged and we would marry when we came of age. But…"

"But what?"

"But he became victim to a newly discovered disease and he died. He was someone that was a friend to nearly everyone in the town, but when they heard of his death, they all thought that I had killed him."

"Does that explain all the markings on the mansion?"

"Yes. They did whatever they could to hurt me after that. They wouldn't even give me a chance to give him a proper burial. I…couldn't take it anymore. I was so lonely. I wanted to see him. I starved myself to death by staring out that window for a long time."

"What put you in this state?"

"I don't know. When I came back to this world as a ghost, I became even lonelier. I was cursed to always sitting here at this bench. I was always waiting for someone to help me, but when someone like that came, they all died shortly after meeting me. I tried to stop them, but they always, always insisted on meeting me."

"I think I've heard enough." Someone said in front of us. IT was Xunakiy, with her microphone in hand.

"Xunakiy, don't!"

"I'm sorry, Zexion. But this would be for both of your sakes." She turned toward the girl, who smiled. "I hope you find happiness with the one you love."

I couldn't see anything come from her microphone, but then the girl started to fade.

"You are such a kind person, and I know that I am not lonely anymore. I've never been. And you have someone to make you feel like that too. May you find your happiness as well. Oh, and before I forget…" She handed me a small cylindrical tube, and an envelope. "That will help you in some way, someday." She faded completely.

"Zexion? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm okay. How did you find out about this?"

"Woman's intuition?"

"You don't seem like the type to be gifted with something that great."

"I'm so glad you're okay." She pulled me into a hug. "Just…don't make me worry like this anymore."

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Hopefully you can keep it that way."

* * *

When we got back to the castle, I was pondering about what would be inside the cylindrical tube and the envelope. I went to my room and I decided to open up the envelope first. However, when I opened it, it only had the blond girl and someone's whited-out face. I wanted to throw it away, but then again, the girl wanted me to keep it, because it would help me someday. I decided to open up the tube next. It was white and had curving silver markings on it, with a pure gold cover. I knew something important had to be in there.

"Here goes nothing…" I sighed.

I proceeded to open up the tube, but nothing was there.

"What the hell is with the crappy stuff she gave me!?" I yelled.

I suddenly heard something coming from the tube. I put my ear to it, and it sounded almost like…growling.

"What do we have here?" I asked myself.

Suddenly, something long, skinny, and furry quickly slid out of the tube. When it plopped on the ground, I saw that it was a furry animal without any legs. It was pretty much a snake with fur and the face of a cat-like plush toy. It started growling at me, and then it suddenly went from small furry snake, to a nine-tailed…thing. It was an animal, but I was probably too scared to remember which one. It was growling louder than ever now.

"Okay, d-down boy, or girl, or…whatever! Stay the hell away from me!" I ran towards my door, and I jumped over the animal. I heard a loud screech, and Kimaru began bounding down the hallway. "Kimaru! Sic'em!"

Unfortunately, Kimaru COMPLETELY ignored me and went for my side bang yet again, and he brought me down quickly.

"Kimaru! I said sic' HIM! Not ME!" I angrily pointed out while stifling back yelps of pain. Kimaru spotted the animal, stopped chewing high-tailed it out of there. "Well, at least you tried…" I sighed sarcastically. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"

I ran down the hallways, trying to find someone who would help, but unfortunately whoever I ran into couldn't do a thing and ended up running with me. I gathered up Xigbar, Vexen, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, Roxas and Xunakiy. We all gathered into one empty room we managed to find, and we were cornered by the animal.

"How the HELL did we get into this mess!?" Axel shouted.

"Ask Little Bookworm." Larxene suggested.

"I just opened up this tube, and this thing pops out!" I answered them.

"How do you think we can beat it?" Xunakiy asked.

"I…have no idea." Vexen sighed.

"What's it doing?" Demyx asked.

The creature stopped growling, and then it just roared. It started to emit light, and all we could do was close our eyes and shield ourselves.

* * *

((Cliff! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Anyways! There isn't much to say about this chapter, but I feel that this wasn't much. The next chapter won't be much too, I guess…read and review, as always!))


	20. Omake Theater Number Three

Omake Theater Number Three: Pool-time is Fun-time?

Everyone is at an indoor pool, but they all think the water is cold. As a result, they all haven't changed to bathing suits.

"So…who's going to jump in first?" Zexion asks. Everyone stares at Demyx.

"Don't look at me!" Demyx whines.

"Of course you can tolerate it!" Larxene exclaims.

"And we're not looking, we're staring." Axel adds.

"Bah. They're all the same." Marluxia responds.

"No they aren't." Vexen argues.

"They're not?"

"BANZAI!" Demyx screams while jumping into the pool with his regular clothes still on. He splashes everyone that was near the pool at the time. Namely…everyone.

"Dammit! Demyx, that was cold!" Axel shouts.

"C'mon everyone! The water's just fine!" Demyx waves.

"Wahoo!" Xunakiy shouts. She still has regular clothes on too, and she jumps in with a cannonball. Everyone is splashed.

"You're definitely right, Demyx-senpai!"

"Told you! C'mon everyone!" Demyx asks.

"I'm not getting in there." Axel protests.

"Neither am I." Larxene agrees.

"I am!" Marluxia jumps in also. Everyone is splashed.

"Count me in dudes!" Xigbar jumps. Everyone is splashed.

"I hope you have room for one more!" Vexen jumps. Everyone is splashed.

"Enough with ze splashing!" Zexion shouts.

"Ze?" Everyone asks.

"Disregard that." Each of the members eventually jumps in except Axel, Larxene, and Zexion.

"You can do it, Zexion!" Xunakiy cheers.

"Fine."

"You're totally doing it just for her!" Everyone taunts.

"So what if I am?" He jumps in.

"There's no way in HELL that you would make us jump in there!" Axel and Larxene shout.

"And besides, we don't want to get perfectly good clothes wet." Axel finishes.

"I jumped in with jeans!" Xigbar shouts.

"I jumped in with shoes!" Marluxia shouts.

"I jumped in commando!" Demyx cheers.

Everyone is silent, and they decide to slowly swim/walk away from Demyx.

"What the heck is wrong with that!?" Demyx shouts.

"Everything." Everyone says flatly.

* * *

((Heh. Something like this happened a week ago, and I couldn't help but put it in here. With school ending in two weeks, I hope to update sooner. Thank you for being patient! Please forgive me, Shebakune-san! I hope you still keep reading! I am trying to update as soon as possible, but I'm very busy!))


	21. Admitting What We Feel

Part 18

When we all looked back, the animal was gone, and we were all still kept intact.

"Kyaah! That was scary!" Roxas started to cry.

"Why the hell are you crying!?" Demyx shouted. I was surprised, because he was never one to use the word 'hell'. And somehow, his voice sounded deeper and…kind of like Axel's.

"Why am I seeing myself without a mirror?" Axel asked. He wasn't one to ask stupid questions like that, and now he sounded just like Demyx.

"Demyx! Don't hurt a poor child like him!" Larxene ran over and hugged Roxas.

"I'm not Demyx. I'm Axel."

"I'm over here, Larxene!" Axel (Demyx?) waved.

"What the hell is happening?" Marluxia asks.

"I think that bright flash of light made something go wrong with each of us." Vexen explained. If that was true, then what was wrong with me? We heard someone stomping on the floor. It was Xigbar. It was either he was mute, or I was deaf. He was mute.

"Finally! We don't have to listen to that lame surfer-dude accent of yours!" Demyx (or Axel?) said. Xigbar responded with taking out his guns.

"Whoa there Mr. Pirate!" Axel (Demyx) stepped in front. "No need to actually scar off my body. You can just scar up Axel's body right here!"

"I'm going to kill you first." Axel growled. (I'll just call the annoying one Demyx and the not-annoying one Axel.)

"You'll be killing off your own body then!" Demyx snickered.

"Fine. For the duration of time that I'm in your body, I'll just turn start cutting my wrists like an emo."

"Kyaah! Don't do that!" Xigbar looked puzzled. He was probably wondering which of them to shoot. I was surprised that Xunakiy didn't stop all this. Usually she would prevent any fights from breaking out.

"Xunakiy! Where the hell is she!?" I shouted.

"Our little angel has suddenly collapsed on the floor!" Larxene gasped. I was guessing that the nine-tailed beast caused her to act like a total goody-two shoes. I turned over to where Larxene was pointing. She was on the floor, but she looked perfectly peaceful while lying there. I walked over to see if she was all right—

"Zexion! What are you doing!?" I felt a sudden jolt and I had Hakuro in my hands and I had it against Vexen's shield. "Why are you trying to kill her!?" He yelled at me.

"I…what?"

"Something's causing him to do this!" Roxas yelled. Obviously.

"Hey, Zexion." Marluxia said.

"What—!?" He snapped his fingers and vines shot out from the wall and started pinning me to said wall.

"Sorry, but this is for your…and Xunakiy-chan's good." He glanced back at the sleeping white-haired girl. Vexen decided to carry her to her room. As soon as they were gone, Marluxia let me go and I felt normal again.

"What the hell were you doing that for!?" Demyx shouted.

"It wasn't my fault!" I shouted back.

"You're such an idiot!" Axel smacked Demyx in the face.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"I'm glad it did!"

"You wanna start something!?"

"Be my guest!" They brought out their weapons. And they brought out the wrong weapons. Axel had Demyx's sitar, and Demyx had Axel's chakrams.

"This isn't going to work out." Axel sighed.

"Cool!" Demyx cheered. "I get cool new weapons! And I get to burn stuff!" HE started waving the chakrams around, he suddenly they caught fire. "Holy crap! Put it out! Put it out! I know! Stop drop and roll—"

"Demyx! Cut that out! It won't burn you!" Axel yelled. Demyx was already on the floor and he would've started rolling already if Axel hadn't gotten in the way. The fire continued burning and Demyx was just staring at it.

"I didn't know fire looked so cool!" Demyx yipped.

"What're you waiting for!? Christmas!? Get off the floor and teach me how to use this crappy excuse for a guitar!" Axel slammed said instrument in Demyx's head, and Demyx tried burning Axel.

"You no hurt my sitar!" Demyx yelled angrily.

"I don't give a damn!" Axel shouted.

I decided to leave the duo and go to my library and look up the tailed beast in the library. But before that, I wanted to pay Xunakiy a visit.

* * *

"What were you thinking when you tried to see her!?" Vexen yelled at me.

"I didn't know it would happen again!"

"Try not to think about it. So long as we're under this curse, you shouldn't see her. Ever. You'll try to kill her." Vexen walked away.

Long story short, I opened the door, I nearly attacked Xunakiy, but luckily Vexen froze me in my tracks. Literally. I just HAD to break this curse. If I couldn't see Xunakiy ever again, I would feel my non-existent emotion of sadness. But if I saw her, I would end up killing her, and then I would probably end up killing myself. Bah.

"Oooooooh! Zexion got'n twouble!" Demyx yelled.

"Demyx. If you don't want me to persuade Axel to destroy your sitar, I suggest you to comply with two words. The first one, 'Shut'. And the second one, 'Up!'"

"Alright already." He walked away with something of a smile. It was sort of awkward, seeing as Axel never really smiled that much.

I decided to go back to my original plan and pay a visit to my library. When I was almost there I heard gunshots being fired off in rapid succession. Xigbar. I raced over to wherever it was coming from and the room was basically trashed.

"What the HELL Xigbar!?" Xaldin shouted.

"We were just—" Luxord started snickering and then he just took a breath and grinned. "We're just so lucky to not have your annoying accent accompany your immature attitude!"

Xigbar smiled an evil smile, and then he went all out on the room we were all in. I was able to shield myself by hiding inside one of my books, so I escaped unscathed. On the other hand, Xaldin and Luxord were just as lucky, with them taking odd positions, as bullet holes were on the wall behind them, lining up with their figures. I gave off a smirk at that because this reminded me of the Kimaru incident a while ago.

"You have no reason to be laughing you, you—"Luxord was about to finish, but Luxord jumped out of the way of an oncoming bullet, and if he didn't, the bullet would've gotten him right in the forehead. "Oi! I was in the middle of something! Couldn't you shoot me after!?"

Xigbar shook his head.

"I guess not." Xaldin commented as he went back to having two feet on the floor. "Anyway, Zexion, what are you doing here?"

"I was just seeing what was going on." I replied.

"Yeah well, there's nothing to see here anymore, so do your own thing somewhere else!" Luxord snapped at me. A bullet landed near one of his feet.

"I'm guessing you three aren't done quite yet. Have fun." I waved and walked away.

"WAIT! DON'T LEAVE US HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" Luxord screamed.

* * *

In the library, I found out that the creature we were supposedly attacked by was a pipe fox, or a kuda-kitsune, which was what it was called by people of Xunakiy's language. Other than the name, I didn't find out much. It said that foxes had various powers and that they could curse humans in different ways. The book I was looking through also said it could possess people. Scary.

"So that's what we're supposed to be chasing after?" Axel asked behind me. I nearly jumped, but I was able to stay on my chair.

"Yes…"

"So…all we have to do is beat this thing and we go back to normal right?"

"That's right."

"Anyways…what's up with you and our white-haired maiden?"

"Say what!?"

"There totally is something!"

"It's nothing much."

"C'mon, I'll keep quiet about this. I'm not like Demyx or Vexen."

"Are you being absolutely honest about this?"

"Of course I am!"

"Alright, fine."

"…"

"…?"

"Go ahead and start! I'm almost about to burst with anticipation!"

"Fine. The truth is, I actually kind of…"

"Like her."

"Yeah, that. And it's just that…well…seeing as we don't have any hearts…"

"Finish your sentences!"

"Alright already! We don't have hearts, and that's the most of it."

"Most?"

"Well, after years of waiting, we could actually get our hearts back, but I don't think she would need someone like me."

"…"

"Axel?" I felt really stupid at this point. Here I am, pretty much saying how I would've felt about Xunakiy if I had a heart, and I'm telling this to a person who probably doesn't even care. But Axel's actions proved otherwise.

"She totally wants you!" He just suddenly shouted.

"Didn't you say you were going to keep quiet about this?" I was surprised.

"Oh yeah. Well, you know how she's all happy about everything?" Axel went back to using an inside voice.

"Yeah."

"Well, even someone like her could have misfortunes."

"And?"

"Not everyone can see that."

"So…"

"Everyone thinks she's practically the happiest girl in the universe, but maybe she knows that you're one of the only people who can see that."

"I'm not that special. Really."

"But she thinks otherwise."

"I guess so, and I also guess that there's nothing we can do to change that."

"Well maybe you can change it by screwing up your relationship, but I'd bet anything you wouldn't go there."

"Of course I wouldn't. This is practically the only form of connection I have with someone other than myself. I…don't want to ruin it."

"So…you're saying that Xunakiy's the only friend you've had?"

"Pretty much."

"That must really…suck."

"Until now, it did."

"Hmm?"

"When I was still whole, I lived a rather lonely life…just to keep it short. Sure, I was always around others, but I never bothered to interact with them. I didn't know how to be 'myself' other than sitting in a corner and reading books all the time. But now…she's making me see my life in a new light. I don't feel lonely anymore."

"Yeah well, if you didn't want to be lonely, you could've just hung out with Demyx."

"I don't think that would've worked. He can play his sitar all day, and it wouldn't make me move an inch."

"You say that now, but look what happened to me."

"Well, you didn't have a life like mine."

"Who gives a damn?"

"Well, if you actually did have my lifestyle, you would envy everyone that was having fun with others. Being lonely for years would take its toll on you."

"What was that?"

"Should we change the topic of this conversation?"

"GAAAAH! ALL THIS TIME IT THOUGHT YOU WERE MORE OF A GENIOUS, BUT NOW YOU'RE MORE LIKE A NATURAL IDIOT!"

"What the hell!?"

"Look, just give me the long-story-short version here."

"Fine. It's just that…if both of us…got our hearts back…I would say that…"

"What? What? What?" Axel leaned forward in anticipation.

"Hello my dear, dear friends!" Larxene greeted while skipping in. "Are you having a nice conversation?"

"I think it was nice, until you came in." Axel said.

"I don't see how I can be a problem."

"You have no idea."

"So what were you guys talking about?"

"Um…something…painful?"

"Painful!? Who got hurt!?"

"Disregard that."

"Okay! I'll be going now!" She skipped away.

"That was awkward." Axel said flatly.

"For some reason, I feel like I just puked." I added.

"Just for seeing her? Damn, you have a weak stomach."

"Not that. Maybe it's because I just told all my problems to someone." That was true. Sure, Axel's not the best listener, but telling everything to someone like him would make the pressure I have on me right now a lot lighter, even though I wasn't able to finish. If we did get our hearts back, I would've said…'I love you.'

"Hell, for me, I just burn up the next thing I see to relieve myself."

"That is so like you."

"What? You have a problem with that—"

"MY FLOWERS! I JUST HAD THEM PLANTED!!" Marluxia.

"Want to check it out?" I asked Axel.

"Hell yeah! I would love to see the look on Marly's face!"

* * *

"I just finished growing them…and now…all that work…burned and tossed into a pile of ashes…" Marluxia said to himself. Axel was laughing his ass off. Turns out, the curse that the fox put on Marluxia was that of killing every plant he touched.

"HOLY CRAP! I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! THIS IS JUST HILARIOUS!" Axel was laughing while gripping his stomach and lying on the floor.

"I wish I could kill off that redhead, but unfortunately…I've lost the will to live…" Marluxia sighed. "What is the point of having gardening as a hobby if whatever you touch dies?"

"Um…cheer up?" I suggested.

"I'm afraid I can't…" Axel was still laughing on the floor, and this time he was hugging Kimaru.

"FINALLY! I CAN'T HEAR YOUR GAY-ASS VOICE! HAHAHAHA!" Now Axel was pounding on the floor, with Kimaru looking a tad bit scared. I decided to shut him up before he passed out, but…

"IF THERE'S ONE THING THAT I CAN'T STAND MORE THAN MY DEAD FLOWERS IS THAT STUPID OBNOXIOUSNESS OF YOURS YOU DIMWIT OF A PYRO!" Marluxia just took out his scythe and struck it down beside Axel's head, hacking off a strand of hair. Axel slowly inched away, terrified.

"To tell you the truth, I wanted him to shut his trap too."

"I'm glad you share my views."

"How will we get him off the floor?"

"Why ask m—"

"Oh my!" Someone shouted.

"Wait. Why are you here again?" Axel asked.

"I wanted to see what the problem was, and now I have!" Larxene said.

"I'm in no mood for your insults." Marluxia hissed.

"Insults? I absolutely loved your garden! It was so beautiful! Who did this?"

"Apparently, I did."

"Why would you destroy your own flowers?"

"Why the hell would I do that!? It's that frickin' curse! The frickin' frickin' curse!"

"What curse?"

"Apparently, being a goody-two shoes would make you a natural idiot." I said to myself.

"I guess Xunakiy would know all about that!" Axel got up, apparently fine.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked angrily.

"Well, it's just that Xunakiy's always acting so gullible and all happy-go-lucky—GYAAACCH!" I was choking Axel as hard as I could. Even though it was a joke, I didn't like it.

"Oh no! You shouldn't choke people!" Larxene fretted.

"HE. HAS. CRAPPY. JOKES." I said while gritting my teeth.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to stop this. Oh well, bye-bye!"

I was finally satisfied with my punishment for Axel, so I let go, and Axel plopped onto the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL WASTHAT FOR, MAN!" Axel yelled at me as soon as he caught his breath.

"That was for making fun of Xunakiy."

"That does it. You two were made for each other!" Axel said.

"Oh my! When I even hear the mention of love, it fills me with bliss!" Marluxia cheered. "I know a good romance when I see one! I have a feeling you two will make the best of couples—"

"XUNAKIY-CHAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Someone yelled.

* * *

We both rushed over to the site, with an injured Demyx on the floor.

"Holy crap! What the hell happened here!?" Axel shouted.

"It's obvious they were attacked." I replied.

"I know that!"

"Just who attacked them?" Marluxia asked.

"Guys! Look!" Axel pointed. He was pointing towards Xunakiy, with a knife in hand.

"Xunakiy! What are you doing!?" I yelled. Apparently I was temporarily freed from the curse, but that didn't matter right now. I was worried about Xunakiy. She was just staring blankly.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Marluxia asked.

"Do you have to ask ALL the questions?"

"You just asked one."

"Never mind—GYAAAH!" Xunakiy nearly slit Axel's throat. Luckily, he was able to step backward before he got hurt.

"Xunakiy! Snap out of it!" I yelled. She paid me no mind. She just kept going for Axel, and then she went for Marluxia. He did a backflip and unfortunately, he ended up getting cut in the leg.

"Crap!" Marluxia yelled as he held his thigh. Xunakiy was about to gouge his eye out, but fortunately, at least for Marluxia, I grabbed the knife. Well, that finally got her attention, but then she nearly stabbed me in the stomach.

"Xunakiy! Stop this!" I tried to yell at her. I grabbed the knife again when she almost brought it to my eye. I noticed something. Her shadow was replaced with a nine-tailed creature. The fox. She was possessed.

"Zexion! You can't reason with her! Try knocking her out!" Axel yelled out.

"But, I can't hurt her!"

"Either you do it, or I will!"

My hand started bleeding and dripping to the floor. Xunakiy looked at me and then to the blood. She dropped the knife, and then she dropped on her knees, her hands on her head, and she was shaking. I wanted to help her up but then she quickly got up, took the knife, and slashed at my arm. I jumped back, and then she ran straight for me.

"Zexion!" Marluxia and Axel shouted simultaneously.

I really couldn't think of anything better. When she stabbed me in the stomach, I hugged her. It hurt…a lot. But I would bet anything that she was hurt in the same way. The fox was dragged out and Axel just whacked it on the head with the sitar. It turned back into the small snake-like creature, and it slinked away.

"Zexion! Hang in there!" Marluxia shouted as I dropped to the floor.

* * *

I woke up with my insides feeling they've been ripped apart, sewn together, frozen, and then microwaved. Which is to say that my stomach hurt.

"Are you okay?" I heard someone say.

"Xunakiy?" I was able to say, although it was barely audible, even to me.

"Oh, so you are okay!"

"Well, I'm glad you're alright too."

"Thanks. But I think you should rest."

"Fine."

I wanted to jump out of bed and hug her tightly, but my stomach hurt badly, so I ended up falling asleep right away.

* * *

The next morning, I went straight for her room.

"Good morning!" I greeted.

"Ohiyo gozaimasu!" She greeted. "Oh, um…how's that wound healing up?"

"I'm doing fine."

"I'm glad to hear that! Oh, um…"

"What?"

"I was being really rude yesterday, um…"

"I'm sorry, but could you please finish your sentences?"

"It's just that…well…I felt really worried about you."

"How is that rude?"

"Well…it's just that we've never met before."

"..."

"My name's Xunakiy. What's yours?"

* * *

((Zexion finally admits that he would love our heroine if he had a heart, but unfortunately, she's had her mind erased! I also have some bigger plans for Xunakiy-chan's loss of memory in the story. Also, I am getting off of school this week! Woohoo! Look forward to some more updates. Hopefully. Please review, and thank you for all the support you've been giving!))


	22. Clean Slate

Part 19

The thing about life…is that you either have to leave something or be left behind. There is hardly a case when the two happen at the same time, but when it does…it hurts like hell.

"My name is…" Damn. I couldn't believe what the hell was happening. She lost her memory, at nearly the same time I took hold of the fact that I would've confessed my love, if I could.

"Your name is…?" She asked.

"I'm sorry. My name is Zexion."

"Zexion…Zexion…"

"What is it?"

"Would you mind if I call you Zexion-kun?" That hurt also. Demyx told me that when someone like her stops using suffixes for a person, they consider you someone that is very special to them. Shortly after we first met, she started calling me that. Now we're back to square one.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Well, then…" She stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you Zexion-kun! I like the ring of that!" She smiled. That was the only thing that made it better. Her smile was the most beautiful anyone could find. I tried to smile back but…

"Hey."

"Eh?"

"You look lonely when you smile."

"I…do?"

"Yeah. Is there something wrong?"

"Um…not exactly—"

"If there's a problem, you should tell me, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't worry you." I ended up smiling, and she smiled back.

"That the kind of smile you should have."

"Wassup, Zexy!" Xigbar came running up the hallway.

"What do you want?" I coldly asked.

"I just wanted to rub it in your face that you totally have the HOTS for the new member!" Xigbar annoyingly poked me in the forehead. But he said 'new member'. Does that mean everyone else's minds were erased? And I'm the only one who remembers everything related to Xunakiy? Damn. That makes everything worse. But I had to keep all this hidden.

"I-I do not!" I halfheartedly protested.

"Of course ya do!" I gulped. As much as I wanted to keep it hidden, I couldn't hide it so well. I could only hide from reality for so long until it caught up to me.

"As far as I know, nobodies can't have those feelings." I pretty much died on the inside.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, someday you're going to eat those words!" He poked me in the cheek, repeatedly and annoyingly. As much as I didn't like him, he was right, and I already have. But I decided to stop it by biting his finger. Good thing he was wearing gloves.

"GYAOWCH!" He yelped. He pulled his hand out of my mouth and waved it around. He quickly calmed down. "Zexion. I have a question."

"Go ahead and ask." I gulped.

"Okay…Do you have rabies?"

"DAMMIT! WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO SPEND MY DAYS QUARRELING WITH DIMWITS LIKE YOU!" I yelled. Then I calmed down myself. "Xigbar, the answer to your question is no, and you'd only be infected if I bit down hard enough to make a hole in your glove." I decided to take a look at what Xunakiy was doing. She was clasping her hands together and looking at me with gleaming eyes. "Yes?"

"Y-You're so smart! I'm not too bright, so I think you should tutor me sometime!" She was getting close to me because she was tiptoeing. As much as I would've liked to hug her, I had to do the 'smart' thing and put my hand on her shoulder and place her back down. I just walked away.

As I was walking off to my room, I think I heard Xigbar say something to Xunakiy. It was more along the lines of, "I'm pretty sure he didn't mean it." That was so true.

* * *

I felt so stupid when I closed the door to my room. What can I do to make it all go back to normal? 'Normal' was the key word. 'Normal' was actually not having her in the Organization at all, and I would've been lonely. But now, 'normal' seemed a little bit better than right now. I actually had some great memories because of her. I got to go to a theme park, meet several new friends, I got blind in my right eye (and I still am blind for no reason whatsoever), my first date…

"Dammit." I said to myself. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I honestly don't know. Most people don't know when they ask themselves that, but they find the answer a while later. I don't think I can find mine. I started getting frustrated…and wrecked my room.

I undid my bed and tossed the blankets around, I looked for whatever books I had in my room at the time and threw them everywhere, and overturned any furniture I could find, minus my bed, and scattered their contents. I did so many things all at once, that I tired myself out. I decided to sit in a corner and lean against the wall, and take a few minutes to rest. Or maybe it was more than a few minutes. When I closed my eyes for a short while and opened them up again, Xunakiy was staring straight at my visible eye.

"I'm sorry, I'll get this mess cleaned up." I told her.

"Zexion-kun? Are you sure something isn't wrong? When I was here yesterday, this room was as clean as a whistle. Is it something I can help you with—" She grabbed my arm.

For some reason, I knocked her back against one of the walls. I heard a crack from the same one. She slowly looked up, looking slightly confused. I lifted my hands to my head.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME!" I screamed. I ran out of the room, not looking back.

* * *

I just ran. I didn't exactly care where I was going, but it was a good thing I knew the lay of the world. I stopped at Memory's Skyscraper. Conveniently, it started to rain at the time. I leaned against a building, and let the rain fall against my head.

* * *

"_Nii-san?"_ I heard an innocent voice ask.

I questioned where I was. The area looked like a regular playground, with swings, a slide, monkey bars, and the usual other stuff that a playground would have. I couldn't recognize the place at all, but I still felt as if I had been there before. What I saw was a young girl and a young teenager that looked like he was ten years older than her, swinging on the swings. I recognized the young girl. It was Xunakiy. Maybe this was her past? And maybe the older kid was Luneth, her older brother.

"_What is it?" Luneth asked in reply._

"_Do you think we'll ever see Otouto again?" Yukina asked._

"_Of course we will." He smiled, but then it was quickly replaced with a frown. "We just…can't see him right now."_

"_When we're older?"_

"_Yeah, of course!"_

"_I have one more thing to ask."_

"_What's that?"_

"_Would we stay together?"_

"_Of course! I won't let anything happen to you, because that's a big brother's job!"_

"_Then being a Nii-san must be very taxing."_

"_What?"_

"_You've already lost one sibling, and now you're doing everything you can to make sure you won't lose me too. It must be stressing you out sometimes."_

"_Yeah, well…sometimes it is, but knowing you're safe would make everything worthwhile. And plus, protecting little siblings is a Nii-san's job!"_

"_Yeah. I get it now."_

The two would've looked great to put in a picture frame or a scrapbook. The moment was nice to go through, but…

* * *

"_Nii-san! I don't want to leave you!" Yukina's voice shouted._

_I was a new scene where a woman wearing expensive clothing and make up was pulling Yukina away from Luneth, who was being restrained by another woman._

"_No! Yukina! I won't let them take you!" Luneth shouted._

"_Calm down, Luneth. I'm pretty sure she'll be much more happier at her new home—"_

"_I'm the only on who can protect her! Let go of me!"_

"_Nii-san!"_

"_Can you shut up? You are being a nuisance."_

"_Then leave her behind!"_

"_I'm afraid that she's the only one I think is suitable."_

"_Let go of her!"_

"_Nii-san!"_

I could only watch as Yukina was forcibly being dragged into a car. Luneth was unable to do anything as he watched his little sibling be carried away into the car. When the woman finally succeeded in getting Yukina in, she quickly slammed the door shut and told the driver to step on it. That was when the elderly woman let go of Luneth and he could run after her. But then Yukina looked back with her hands on the car's window and started crying.

* * *

"_Why did you have to take me away from Nii-san!?"_ Yukina screamed as she was thrown into a pitch-black room.

"_Unfortunately, we don't have an heir to this family, and my husband has just died. So I take over and make sure that this family stays in check until we can find someone else to inherit leadership of the family."_

"_Then why would you want me?"_

"_I can bend the rules all I want since I'm the head of the family, and I wanted a female heir…and someone I can bend until she breaks."_

Yukina gasped.

"_But don't worry, you won't get hurt if you follow through with what I tell you, or else…I'll make your life a living hell."_ The woman finally left the room.

"_Why…why…why?"_ Yukina kept whispering to herself in the dark room. _"Why did I have to be taken away. I didn't do anything wrong…neither did Nii-san…so what did we do to deserve this?"_ She started crying. Then she screamed _"WHYYYYYYY!!"_

* * *

"Zexion-kun?" I opened my eyes to see Xunakiy in front of me, and she was shaking my shoulder. I just blinked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure…" I sighed.

"Why did you suddenly storm out of the room like that? Can I help? I really hope it's something I can help with, because it really worries me to see someone in trouble."

"Dammit. Look, I'm sorry about hitting you and all…um…are you okay?"

"Sure, I've been better, but it doesn't bother me that much. So, can I help you with anything, Zexion-kun?"

"I don't know…"

"Okay then! Well, try to remember it as soon as you can! Oh yeah, you should've put your hood on if you wanted to sit out in the rain, because you'll get a cold!"

"Got it." I smiled.

"Keep working on it." She smiled back. And then she made a soft tap on my head. "We need to get out of the rain, so you can eat noodles!"

"Noodles?"

"Yeah! Lost and lots of noodles! You need to eat noodles so you won't get sick! After that, you drink milk! Lots and lots of milk!"

"Why milk?"

"You need to get taller! You're one of the older than Axel and Demyx and yet you're shorter than them! Get taller!"

"I'll try." And then I sneezed.

"Oh no! You're getting sick! To the castle!" She got up, started pulling me by my sleeve and she helped me up. Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me back to the castle.

* * *

"This a great lunch, Xunakiy!" Demyx exclaimed.

"I knew you'd like it!"

"You're an idiot, Demyx." Axel said.

"Am not!"

"You're not even sick!"

Here we are, at lunch. Demyx and I were eating ramen noodles.

"So what? These noodles are delicious!" Demyx stabbed his fork into a clump of noodles.

"Arigato, Demyx-senpai!" Xunakiy cheered.

"What's arigato?" He asked.

"In her language, it means 'thank you.'" I said while eating a shrimp.

"You're right! Have you been to my world before?" She asked.

"Mm…once or twice." I replied.

"What is your world like, Xunakiy?" Axel asked.

"I don't know how to explain it. But it's just one big city! It's full of people walking from place to place or in cars. The food, music, and art are splendid! And at night, the lights on the tall buildings flash on and all of it is so colorful!"

"I'd say that was a vivid description." I said.

"Umm…eat up! You won't get better by talking! Eat noodles! Then the milk! You need to get better, and then you need to get taller!"

Everyone laughed at that.

* * *

"Okay, you need to sleep for a couple of hours so you can get better by tomorrow." She said to me at my door.

"Got it."

"And one more thing." She said. "Are you absolutely you're okay? There's nothing you need help with?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay. Have a nice nap!" She walked off. I thought she would've skipped off.

I closed the door and when I turned around to my room. I completely forgot that I trashed it. I wrecked it in less than ten minutes, but it would take me hours to gat it cleaned up. I sighed and decided to fix it tomorrow. I got onto my bed and fell asleep.

* * *

I found myself with a Yukina on a swing set in a park. She was probably about ten years old here. She was with her adopted mother standing beside her. Yukina was staring at the ground.

"_Yukina, being the heir to a financially successful family such as ours, I've been giving it some thought, and I will have someone watch over you."_ The woman said. _"That way, we can monitor you at all times, and I won't have to spend all my time with you. Also, you'll get off my back about having 'fun.'"_

"_I understand."_ She said without looking up.

"_Good. Now—"_ She looked around, but no one else was there. _"WHERE ARE YOU!?"_ She yelled angrily.

"_I'm coming!"_ A boy came stumbled out of the limousine. He had shoulder-length brown hair, and auburn eyes. He looked five years older than Yukina. He ran over, but then he tripped over and landed at Yukina's feet.

"_I'm not sure if getting you was a good idea."_ The dark-haired woman sighed while putting a hand to her head.

"_No, no! I'll do a great job watching her! And besides, she doesn't look like trouble at all!"_

"_If you knew what I had to do to keep her under control, you'd think of her as nothing but a nuisance."_ The woman walked into the limo and it drove off.

"_Okay, um…"_ The boy waved his hand upwards. _"I'm Arc! Okay…so…oh yeah! Please don't cause me any trouble! I want this to go smoothly—for both of us."_ Yukina looked up. _"That got you going! May I know your name?"_

"_My name is Yukina."_

"_Yukina! That's a great name. My name sounds so plain."_

"_I think it sounds great too."_ Yukina smiled. _"Your name can be part of a meaningful phrase! It can be an 'Arc of Friendship!'"_

"_Thanks. And you have a beautiful smile! Also, may I call you Yukina-chan?"_

"_You really think that suits me?"_

"_Yeah!"_

"_Thank you, Arc-sama."_

* * *

I woke up. Why was I going through Yukina's past? Why was this happening? And who was that Arc person? She never mentioned him before. But as usual, someone knocked on my door before I could ponder this any further.

"Come in."

"Konbanwa, Zexion-kun!" Xunakiy greeted.

"Konbanwa?" I asked.

"It means good evening!"

"Oh. Well then, good evening."

"Feeling better?" I didn't feel all that great, I barely felt any better than when I went to sleep. But I didn't want to worry her.

"Much."

"Glad to hear that." She sat on my bed. "Don't you think you should clean this place up?"

"I know I should. I'm the one who messed it up in the first place."

"Why would you want to do that?" She asked. "Did something happen that caused you to do this?"

"Something like that."

"Okay. Are you REEEEEEAAAAALLLLLYYYYY sure that you can handle it?"

"Handle what?"

"Handle…whatever it is that you have problems with."

"I'm pretty sure I can." I don't know why, but she pouted. "What?"

"I've been asking you all this time, but you still show that you need help!"

"I can handle it."

"This is the last time I'm asking you. Do you or do you not need any help?"

"I don't need help!"

"You don't have to be irritated. Jeez."

"Sorry."

"Oh yeah. TIME TO EAT DINNER!"

"You don't have to scream in my ears, woman!"

"Gomenasai!" She hopped off my bed, and tugged at my wrist. Then I fell onto the floor. "OH NOOOOOO! I INJURED YOU! I WAS TOO IMPATIENT AND I MADE YOU HIT YOUR HEAD! YOU MIGHT HAVE A CONCUSSION!" Wow. I haven't heard that in some time.

"I'm fine…"

"Glad to hear that! Let's go."

* * *

We ate sushi that night, but, seeing as everyone had their minds wiped, it was supposedly their first time seeing it. That said, they didn't want to eat it.

"Okay, so who's going to eat one first?" Demyx asked.

"You eat one Demyx." Axel suggested.

"No way Axel!"

"What? Don't tell me you're scared of the food…"

"I am not! And what about you!?"

"I had a late snack, so I'm pretty much full…"

"Full my foot!"

"Before a fight breaks out I'm going to eat one." I picked up a piece of sushi and ate it. For some reason, this one tasted…horrible. I gagged and walked over to the nearest trashcan and spat it back out.

"Why the hell does this one taste like crap!?" I yelled.

"Oh. That one was a dud. I guess I actually put one in by mistake. Sorry." She was smiling in embarrassment while scratching her head.

I just silently took five sushi on a plate and walked back to my room…or at least attempted to.

"You. Are. Going. To. Stay. Here. And. Eat. The. Damn. Sushi." She said in a chopped up sentence while pulling my hood. Then she turned towards everyone else. "Anyone else that doesn't like the sushi?" Most of them shook their head in fear and timidly took the sushi.

"This stuff tastes really good!" Demyx shouts. He takes a spicy tuna roll.

"Of course! I'm the one who made 'em! Back home, I'm the best cook out there!"

"You are? Then I'm not surprised." Vexen commented. He took a sushi and ate it.

"I'm also good at making sweets! Speaking of which, I actually baked a cake earlier today. So, anyone want some for dessert?" Everyone raised their hands up. "Yatta! Everyone likes my food!"

We finished Xunakiy's sushi quickly, and we moved onto a cake. Which was completely chocolate.

"Ch-ch-chocolate…" Axel said as his mouth watered.

"It looks like a chocolate cloud of sweetness…" Demyx said.

"Are you sure we won't get a sugar rush from all the chocolate?" Marluxia asked.

"I'm sure."

Xunakiy cut up all the pieces and gave one to each of us. But when she came to me, she handed me a plate with a bigger slice of cake, and it had a small scoop of ice cream on it.

"Oi! Why does he get a bigger piece!?" Xigbar shouted.

"This is the reward for being a good patient!" Xunakiy said happily.

"Oh. Um…thanks." I took a small bite out of the cake, and it tasted a little bit too sweet. Not wanting to upset Xunakiy, I tried to finish it as fast as I could. Then I started feeling a little sleepy.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" Xunakiy put her hand on my forehead. I think I started blushing. "You're getting a little red. I think you need to go back to your room and sleep some more."

"Zexy has the hots! Zexy has the hots!" Demyx chanted.

"I-I do not…have…the…" I fell out of chair.

"Oh no! I should've caught you! Go to your bed! No wait…"

"What is it?" I asked.

"If you sleep within thirty minutes of eating dinner, you'll have a scary dream!"

"Beware of the scary dreams…" Xigbar said annoyingly.

"Shut up…" I said weakly.

"Oh yeah! You need to drink your milk! That dessert was probably too sweet for you! And you need to get taller!" Xunakiy said.

Everyone started laughing again.

"Please stop saying that…"

"Its true!"

* * *

After everyone finished their dessert. I walked over to my room. And Xunakiy accompanied me. When I opened the door, I was once again reminded that my room was a mess.

"You know what? This place doesn't suitable to sleep in…"

"But I slept in it this afternoon—"

"You should just sleep in my room!"

"Um…sure?" Holy crap! What the hell does that mean for me?

"Okie dokie artichokey!" She pulled my wrist and led me to her room.

* * *

After we changed into sleeping clothes, we both crawled into the bed. This reminded me of our "date" that we had.

"This is the only night we're actually going to be sleeping together, okay? Because tomorrow, we're going to clean up the junk pile you a call a room."

"Got it."

"Good night then."

She slept with her back facing me, and then, after ten minutes, she turned over and hugged me. Just like last time. Would this work out again? I don't know. But, for now, I just had to put up with this. I embraced her.

"Good night. Xunakiy-chan."

* * *

((Another chapter finished. Sorry it took me so long to finish. It's because my dad doesn't understand the concept of summer vacation and is making me clean up the house. Okay, click that button on the bottom left! And tell me what you think of the chapter!))


	23. Summer Memories

Part 20

I woke up, with a yawn and outstretched arms. I looked over at Xunakiy, who was still sleeping. I got out of bed and got back in my usual black uniform.

"Nn…Zexion…kun?" Xunakiy got up.

"Good morning." I greeted her.

"Nn…good…morning…" She said. Then she yawned.

"Anything we should do today?" I asked.

"I don't know…ah!" She suddenly sprung to life, and jumped from the bed. "There's a festival on my home world! Summer's the best time for festivals! Do you want to come?"

"I'd love to."

"No wait…it doesn't start until tonight…"

"Then what should we do?"

"Well, we could try wandering my world for some good places to shop."

"Hmm…I've never exactly done that before…"

"You're kidding me!"

"No, I'm not—"

"You definitely have to go! Oh yeah! We can invite everyone else too!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! I want everyone else to have some fun! And it's summer! And after that, we can go to the beach! Nothing says summer, other than a trip to the beach!"

"Of course."

* * *

In less than half an hour, she rounded up the usual people that were involved in our "adventures" (Vexen, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, and Roxas, plus Xigbar). Everyone had their casual clothes on, except Xigbar, because he didn't have any.

"Alright everyone! We're going on a field trip!" Xunakiy said with a raised arm.

"Field trip! Field trip!" Demyx chanted.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Larxene asked.

"Stop being such a sourpuss!" Axel put a hand on her shoulder. Then Larxene shot him a glare, and suddenly Axel quickly jumped away and started waving his hand around.

"That's what you get, you dimwit of a pyro." Larxene said.

"You didn't have to give me a shock!"

"I had every right to."

"I'm glad to see someone shares my views." Marluxia happily sighs.

"Hey! Shut up!"

"Let's go before we kill each other!" Xunakiy says with a straight smile.

"I second that." Vexen agrees.

She conjured up a portal and we all went through.

* * *

Xigbar got himself some casual clothes as well so he wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, and we started up our field trip.

"So…where are we going?" Xigbar asked.

"Let's ask our tour guide." Roxas suggested.

"Um…I don't know many places that everyone would like…" Xunakiy started frantically walking back and forth.

"Xunakiy…" I placed a hand on her back, and she turned around. "I'm sure you'll choose a great place that we would all have a good time at. Be more confident in yourself."

"Arigato, Zexion-kun." She bowed. Then she turned away. "I have a great idea! Let's just go to the arcade!"

"Arcade?" Demyx asked.

"Demyx-senpai? You don't know what an arcade is?" Xunakiy walked over to said nocturne's location.

"Well, my world didn't have any electricity at all, so I'm pretty crappy when it comes to modern stuff…"

"You'll have a great time! We all will! Right guys?" She looked over to where everyone was, and they were all doing their own thing. She sighed and she led the way.

* * *

We went to a small building that had more games than I could count. Most of them looked fun. Another good thing I spotted was that there weren't any other people around. As soon as we paid for game cards, we all ran over to our games, except for the adults (Xigbar, Vexen, and Marluxia). They didn't know what to play, but then Xunakiy suggested playing the air hockey. It was on a table nearby. They both took the suggestion, and slid their game cards in.

"How exactly do you play this?" Marluxia asked.

"You use the mallets to stop the puck from going into your goal, and you try to make the puck go into your opponent's goal! First to ten points wins!" She handed the mallet to Marluxia. And then she passed the puck over to Vexen.

"Okay, so I just have to hit it into the goal…" Vexen hit the puck, and it went to Marluxia, who hit it back, and then Vexen hit it, and so on and so forth…

"I'll leave you old guys to find my own game…" Xigbar commented.

"I'm not an old man!" Vexen tried to shoot Xigbar a glare, but then the puck went right into his goal. "Dammit! Xigbar, when I finish up with Marluxia, I'm going to kill you!"

"Yeah right…"

Xunakiy giggled at Vexen's carelessness, and then she walked off, dragging me along with her.

"I don't know what to play, so…let's just look at what the others are playing!"

"Sure…"

Demyx was having a great time playing "Guitar Hero". He kept hitting all the notes with ease. Axel and Roxas were playing a racing game that took two players. Roxas was currently losing, which was obvious due to his expression. Larxene was the only one not actually "playing". She used her electricity to rig the games, and she earned the jackpot on a game. Tickets were rolling out continuously.

"Do you consider that playing?" I asked Xunakiy.

"I'm not sure, but we came here to have fun…so maybe that's fun in her opinion…"

"I guess…"

Xigbar found a certain game that focused mainly on shooting zombies. He was playing with someone else…Holy crap!

"What the hell are you doing here!?" I yelled at him.

"I came here completely of my own will."

"What the hell?"

"I have my own life, you know—DAMMIT!" He lost.

"I'll just go on without you, then…" Xigbar went on to shooting zombies.

"At least I can always continue…" He slid his card back in.

"I didn't know he considered this fun…" I sighed.

"Who is he, Zexion-kun?" Xunakiy asked.

"He's a member."

"What's his position?"

"Number Seven." It was Saix, the Luna Diviner.

"Saix! Boss time!" Xigbar yelled.

We watched everyone else play their games, which kept us occupied. Vexen lost his match with Marluxia, Roxas actually won his race, much to Axel's disdain. Demyx got a new high score, Larxene was exchanging her tickets for a game system, and when we went back to Saix and Xigbar, they were raging against the machine. We decided to play Dance Dance Revolution.

"You ready?"

"Of course, Zexion-kun!"

The songs were all fairly easy, but it was tiring to do five continuously. It wasn't much, and I wanted to see if there were other interesting games, but Xunakiy insisted on exploring rather than spending all our time in the arcade. The game was over faster than I expected, and I stepped off the platform.

"Let's go before Larxene finds another game to rig and the tickets pour out for ten minutes." I suggested.

"Coming—" She tried to run off the platform, but then she tripped. She was about to land on the floor, but then I caught her.

"Nice catch…loverboy!" Xigbar whistled.

I had caught her in the position that you would usually find in a tango. The girl would be lowered to the ground by the boy, just inches above the floor, and they would sometimes be in a position that seems like they would kiss.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I-I'm fine." We both looked straight into each other's eyes. The problem was that I started to blush.

"The hots! The hots! Zexy has the hots!" Demyx chanted. I ignored him, and helped Xunakiy up.

"I think it would be in everyone's best interests if you stop torturing Number VI like that."

"Are you a workaholic Saix?" Xigbar asked.

"Of course I'm not—"

"Refer to Zexion as Zexion! Stop naming us by number! It feels…" Xigbar started tapping his foot. He was probably thinking of the right word to say.

"Lackluster?" Marluxia suggested.

"That's it!"

"Fine, _Xigbar_."

"Much better!" Demyx shouted.

"Let's get out of here and choose the next place to go." Roxas suggested.

"Yes, let's." Saix started stomping out of the arcade. We all exited shortly after.

* * *

We ended up going to a music store.

"Why did Demyx get to choose?" Axel asked.

"Because he wouldn't stop whining…" I sighed.

"Let's just try getting this over with…" Saix commented.

We all went inside and started looking for whatever music that piqued our interest. Saix looked confused and decided to just sit down on a nearby chair. I tried looking through some headphones for some music samples, and I found one or two bands that struck me as good. Sure, I couldn't understand the words, but I still liked it anyway. Saix had suddenly caught interest in something that was placed right next to my headphones.

"Saix, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Why are you here?" I was wondering about this. Was he here on Xemnas' orders?

"I'm here because…I thought I could try having…some time for myself." Saix sighed. "I didn't exactly know how to spend it, so…I thought I could try going along with your group."

"Why now?"

"It just…came to me." Saix looked at me. "Try settling with that for now. I'll elaborate sometime soon."

"Why can't you—"

"Do you guys like the music?" Xunakiy asked.

"I—Um—Yeah! We like it a lot!" Xunakiy suddenly appearing behind us startled me.

"We should go now! How about we go to the beach?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Xunakiy!" Demyx ran over.

"Without any swimming clothes?" Axel asked.

"It'll still be fun!" Xunakiy cheered.

"It won't be for me!" Larxene shouted.

"Let's take a chance! Besides, you wouldn't know if something's fun until you try it!" Marluxia said.

"Let's go then!"

* * *

"Xunakiy…I thought you said that the beaches were always full…" I commented.

"Well, I think I gave the taxi drivers the wrong directions…"

"To repeat a mistake four times…wow…" Xigbar added.

"Don't make Xunakiy feel sad!" Demyx hit Xigbar on the head.

They started up a small squabble and eventually they fell to the floor and started rolling down the empty beach. Yes. It was empty. What a relief…

"Guys! You might want to stop rolling down or else you'll hit the—" Axel was cut off. They actually made it to the water, to Demyx's happiness and Xigbar's anger.

"DEMYX! GET ME DRY! NOW!" Xigbar shouted.

"Why not!" Demyx was rolling around in the water and splashing. "Guys! The water's pretty warm!"

"It is!?" Axel started running towards the water…with Roxas in tow.

"Axel! Let me go!" Roxas yelled.

"Alley….yooop!" He threw Roxas in the air, and he landed in the water, which looked painful. He slowly started sinking…

"Roxas-senpai! Don't worry! I'll save you!" Xunakiy ran towards the sea.

"Xunakiy…can you swim?" I asked.

"Well…no." She turned around. "But what I do is jump in and hold my breath! I'll be sure to float back to the top! People are actually very buoyant in the water!"

"Then wouldn't Roxas float back up?"

"Oh…I guess you're right…"

"And don't worry!" Demyx put a hand on her head and pulled out a thumbs-up. "And even if he does fill up with water like a bucket, I'll use my amazingly cool, super-duper, ultra special water powers to save him!" Demyx started putting a hand to his eyes and looked around. "Now where is he? I forgot where he landed—"

"Roxas-senpai! You have your whole life ahead of you! I'll save you!!"

"Don't worry, he's floating up." Marluxia pointed. He was right…

"AXEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLL!!" Roxas shouted. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FLING ME OUT TO THE OCEAN LIKE THAT! I NEARLY DROWNED!!" Roxas then had a coughing fit. He then quickly swam the fifty meters.

"Wow! Roxas-senpai is so swift!"

"He's an overgrown fish…" Vexen commented.

"Just like you?" Marluxia put a hand on Vexen's shoulder.

"Shut up!"

"Zexion-kun! Let's build sand castles!"

"Sand…castles?"

"Yeah!"

"I…haven't made one before—"

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!" Everyone loudly gasped.

"Shut the hell up. Xunakiy, let's get started."

"Okay!"

* * *

Everyone else either started on their own sand castles or they tried to look around for extra stuff around the beach. Axel and Demyx started on a sand castle on top of a sleeping Roxas. I would love to see the outcome of that. Larxene found an umbrella, which she quickly put to good use by taking a nap under the shade. (Axel and Demyx had actually planned on building the sand castle on top of her, but they figured that they would probably be killed the minute she wakes up.) Saix decided to rest under a palm tree and look at what we were doing.

"How does it look like, Zexion-kun?" Xunakiy asked. I took a glance at it, and she had some new friends added to it.

"Crabs…hermit crabs…starfish…a small sea turtle…" I was counting the extra animals she put on it.

"They make it look…cool!" She cheered.

"Zexion! Xunakiy! Look—" Demyx shouted. We were wet by a big wave, which washed away our castle and Xunakiy's sea animals.

Vexen looked our way, and he decided to make himself useful by trying to catch our lunch.

"That was so scary!" Xunakiy whined.

"Demyx…" I sighed.

"Yuppers, mister Zexy?"

"You did that on purpose...didn't you?"

"Maybe…" He replied in a singsong voice.

"I would kill you, but these wet clothes are making me uncomfortable and stiff…"

"Hooray for the wet clothes!"

"HEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYY!!" Vexen shouted. "I NEED HELP OVER HERE! I CAUGHT A BIG ONE!" Vexen was pulled further and further into the water. Marluxia decided to help out, by tugging at Vexen's shirt, much to his displeasure. They were both getting pulled in, and now Xigbar started pulling along with them. Saix got up and helped.

"OWCH! DAMMIT XIGBAR!" Saix shouted in pain. Xigbar had accidentally stepped on his foot.

"HOW THE HELL WAS THAT MY FAULT!?" Through their bickering, Vexen stumbled over, and pulled the other three with him.

"Nothing's funnier than four old men fighting for their food!" Axel laughed. His laughing woke up Roxas, who had now noticed the sand mountain on top of him. "Hey Roxas, should we help them out?"

"HELP ME OUT OF THE SAND, YOU JERK!" Roxas shouted.

"Alright. After me an' Demyx catch the fish…"

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!"

"I want to see how far you guys are going to get without my amazingly cool, super-duper, ultra special water powers!"

"Fine."

Axel went over to help, and Saix didn't like the idea, but he still helped anyway.

"Should we help too?" I asked Xunakiy.

"I think we should!" She hopped up and took my hand. We both ran over.

We were struggling for a while, but then the fish pulled back and we all fell over, with Vexen still holding onto the rod. The way he looked was as if he was holding on for dear life.

"Good grief! Couldn't you catch it by now?" Larxene yelled. She took out her knives and zapped the fish.

"Larxene! We wanted to catch it the old fashioned way!" Vexen yelled.

"Emphasis on _old._"

"Shut up!"

Demyx helped us bring the fish onto the beach, and we actually caught…

"A SHARK!?" Xunakiy yelled.

"Wow…" Was what most of us said.

"Oh well!" Demyx clapped his hands together. "Larxene already killed it, so we might as well have ourselves a shark lunch and dinner!"

"Well said." Axel agreed.

"GUYS! YOU STILL LEFT ME UNDER THE FRICKIN SAND!" Roxas shouted.

* * *

"Next time, please don't hesitate to rescue me." Roxas says while lying on the sand.

"Why do ask Roxas ole' buddy?" Axel asks.

"So I can kill you if you try to do it again."

"Roxas is acting all scary-like!" Demyx shouts.

"I have a good reason for acting like this."

"Guys! The shark meat is ready for eating!" Xunakiy yells from the small fire.

"Oh boy, oh boy!" Xigbar says anxiously.

We all took a piece of fish on a stick and we enjoyed our meal. For some reason, Saix kept wolfing it all down.

"This is one of the best field trips ever!" Demyx exclaimed.

"We can't say that until we've actually had some time to go to the zoo!" Xigbar added.

"Let's do that tomorrow. For now, let's enjoy our meal." Xunakiy interrupted.

"Hey." Axel said after finishing his eighth piece of fish. "I found this huge pile of water guns!"

"Water fight! Water fight!" Demyx yelled.

"No using your powers!" Vexen pointed.

"Count me out."

"It's not going to be fun without you!"

"I said: Count. Me. Out." Larxene gave Demyx her signature 'scary look'.

"O-Okay…"

The water fight wasn't that much of a fight. Demyx still kept beating us, even without his powers. And Xigbar kept firing rapidly and opening up small portals to make the water come at us from all angles. It all stopped when Marluxia's stray shot hit Larxene.

"Marluxia…"

"Yes!" Marluxia obviously didn't know what he had done.

"YOU. ARE. DEEEEEAAAAAAAD!" She pulled out her knives, and…

Let's just say it wasn't fun to watch. For Axel, of course, but for the rest of us, we were scared. Very scared.

"Anyone else want to hit me with water!?" She angrily asked.

"Of course not." Saix replied calmly.

We took our time having fun at the beach for a couple more hours. Swimming, fishing some more, making more sad castles—the usual things.

"Hey guys!" Xunakiy cheerfully said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's a place that I think everyone would like." She closed her eyes halfway. "I would want everyone to go there."

"Of course."

"Hey! We can go right now!" Marluxia suggested.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Axel, Demyx, and Roxas agreed.

"Okay." She opened up a portal. "It's a long ways from here, so…step through please!"

* * *

"Wow. This place is beautiful." Saix commented. It was sort of weird coming from him.

But yes, it was beautiful. We were on top of a large and grassy hill, with several trees dotting the area, and with a good view of both the moon and the sunset. Roses and violets surrounded most of the hill. We couldn't see anything that could possibly ruin the scenery. It was simple, but it was beautiful all the same.

"As soon as the sun goes down, you guys should run through the grass." Xunakiy stretched her arms out.

"What will that do?" Roxas asked.

"Something really cool will happen." She said with a smile.

"But first! Let's watch the sunset!" Axel shouted.

"Yeah, I think we should." I agreed.

And so we did.

"Hey guys." Axel said. "Do you know why sunsets are red? It's because light has lots of colors, and out of all of them, red reaches us from the furthest away."

"What are you getting so proud for Axel?" Roxas asks.

"It's called a fun fact!"

"Hey guys!" Demyx pointed onward.

The sunset was something I had never seen before. I can't say it was all that, but it was still kind of…

"It looks pretty doesn't it?"

"Mm-hmm. Just like you—" I couldn't say that in front of everyone else! "Just like this place!"

"I knew you'd like it!" She smiled once again, and I'm pretty sure I felt something touch my hand.

The night fell upon our location, and the stars came out, one by one.

"C'mon you guys! Xunakiy told us to run!"

"Oh yeah!"

Most of us got up and ran all over the hill, and when they did, fireflies flew up and made everything brighter.

"Absolutely amazing!" Marluxia remarked.

"I'll say!" Vexen agreed.

We watched everyone dance through the area, trying to catch the fireflies with their hands, and slowly release them again. I caught one and I showed it to Xunakiy.

"Just like brother…" I heard Xunakiy whisper under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Come with me."

She wanted me and her to walk over to a far away tree. The tree was overlooking a lake, and we sat under it. I still had the butterfly in my hands.

"So…why bring me here?"

"I honestly have no idea."

"What?"

"Well. There was something telling me that we should be alone, so I thought this would be a good place."

"So…what do you want to talk about?"

"Well, this place…is where I usually spent my summer with my older brother. We would come here at least once a year, and catch fireflies." She inched closer to me. "And if I didn't catch any, he would give me one, and watch me release it. In some way, that made every summer worthwhile."

"In that case…" I put the firefly in her hands.

"You really want me to…"

"Of course. I want to make this summer worthwhile for you." I smiled.

"Your smile…have you gotten happier?"

"I think so." She smiled and let the firefly go.

"Zexion." She looked at me. "I have this…feeling every time I look at you. I feel…sort of floaty, and stuff. I had a feeling that I've known you before." My eyes widened. "It could have been short, but…well…I think we were really close. The feelings that are stirring in me right now are reassuring me of this."

"We…we were close."

"What happened?"

"You…were forced to forget."

"About our time together?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, but by yesterday, you had forgotten everything."

"It must have been painful for you. But I don't think we should worry." She turned towards me. "As long as we're here now…as long as we have the time to just be with each other, everything will be alright…"

"Yeah…" I ran my fingers through her hair, and she knew what I would do.

She leaned closer in and closed her eyes. I did the same.

At that moment, I felt a something inside of me. It was probably what love felt like. But then I heard someone running behind us. We both opened our eyes and looked back. I couldn't tell who it was at the time, because it was getting darker, but I knew it meant bad news.

* * *

((I feel weird about this chapter. Really weird. Oh well! I plan to end this fanfic either next month or the month after, soon to be followed with a sequel fanfic, which would hopefully be longer than this one. That's all I can say for now.))


	24. Festival

Part 21

The figure was starting to come close enough so that we could see him, but he stopped before we could see his face. Whoever it was raised his arm, and suddenly Xunakiy fell into my arms.

"Let the others handle the battle. For now, I need you two to sleep for a bit." The figure said before he started to walk away.

"Wait! Who the hell…are…you…" I started to feel sleepy. And then I fainted.

* * *

"_What the hell am I doing?_" Someone was crying.

I found myself in the middle of a grassy field that held only white and blue flowers. I looked over and saw Xunakiy wearing a simple, sleeveless black dress. She was crying her eyes out.

"_What should I do? I've already lost Arc. If I get into something with him, he might leave me too_—" She looked up and saw me. "_What are you doing here!?_"

"I don't know—" I tried to protest, but she didn't look convinced.

"_Go away! You don't belong here!_" She screamed. Suddenly a strong wind blew. The wind was strong enough to send all the petals flying. They all came my way and suddenly I couldn't see a thing.

* * *

"Zexy! Wake up! What the hell are you dreaming about?" Xigbar shouted.

I opened my eyes to find everyone else surrounding me.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked them.

"We tried to find out if you were attacked! Duh!" Axel said obnoxiously.

"Attacked? By what?"

"We were all attacked by darker versions of the lesser nobodies." Vexen explained.

"Wha?" I was still a little tired from my small nap. "You know what? Just run it through me in a way I can understand."

"Creepy black lesser nobodies attacked us, and they were insane strong! They were able to knock us back a ways! They were REEEAAAALLY tough! We barely survived the battle, but we won anyway! But you weren't there with us, so we wondered if you went POOF! KAPUT! BAM!" Demyx explained.

"I get it now…" I yawned.

"For convenience, let's just call our new enemies Taboo nobodies." Vexen added.

"Sounds sensible." Marluxia agreed.

"Where's our white-head?" I asked.

"Oh. She's…" Larxene pointed upwards. I was slightly confused. I looked up as well, and sure enough, Xunakiy was sitting high in the large tree above us.

"How'd she get there?" I asked.

"Maybe, she…I don't know…what's the word…CLIMBED!" Marluxia exclaimed. Suddenly an apple was thrown overhead and landed on the pink-haired head. "Ouch."

"So…anyone still feel like butterfly chasing?" Demyx asked.

"Firefly. Firefly chasing." Roxas corrected.

"You would know." Larxene commented.

"I don't chase Axel!"

"Where the hell did you guys get that idea!?" Axel protested.

While everyone did their own thing, I decided to climb up the tree so I could talk to Xunakiy. Heh. Easier said than done.

"If I didn't know any better, he's trying to climb the tree." Demyx said.

"Why couldn't he just jump his way up?" Axel asked.

"But wouldn't he hit his head?" Roxas answered with his own question.

"I like doing it the old fashioned way!" I shouted. They all shrugged and walked off.

I tried jumping up, like Axel suggested, but then I hit my head, just like Roxas said. I hissed in pain as I fell to the ground and rubbed my head.

"Trying to get up?" Xunakiy's voice came overhead.

"Yeah." I looked up to find Xunakiy on the branch two feet above me.

"Just grab my hand." She held her hand out. I grabbed it, but instead of her pulling me up, I pulled her down and she fell on top of me.

We were face to face, and we both blushed. Xigbar whistled, and we quickly got up. I quickly tried to get it off our minds.

"So…care to show me how you got up without hitting your head?" I asked.

"Sure." She put her foot inside a hole in the tree. "You put your foot here, and try to reach for the branch I was sitting on. And then you can go all the way up from there." She showed me how, and I followed.

I fell once or twice, but I was quickly able to get up again. Before long, I was able to get up to the top.

"Well, you did better than me when I first tried it." She gave a small smile.

"Maybe it's because you were smaller?"

"Probably it."

"Hey—" I was about to ask her why she was in the tree in the first place, but then I saw something move in the distance. I looked over and it was a van. Actually, there were several of them. "What are those vans for?"

"Oh! They're finally setting up!" Xunakiy jumped down from each branch and landed. I tried to do the same, but then I hit my forehead and landed on my face in the dirt.

"Oh! Are you alright?" Xunakiy helped me up.

"Never better…" I cleaned the dirt off. "Anyway, what are they setting up?"

"They're setting up a festival!"

"Festival?"

"Festival!? I want to go!" Demyx jumped up and landed on me. I was able to carry him for about five seconds before I leaned backwards and he fell off. "Ouchies! That hurt, Zexy!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Well, a festival sounds fun." Axel said while walking over.

"So, everyone wants to come with us then?" Xunakiy asked.

"Totally!" Marluxia jumped up and tried to do what Demyx did.

"HELL NO!" I shouted. I opened up a book and trapped Marluxia in it.

"Nice work." Vexen clapped from a few feet away.

"I'm not going to let him out until we get to the festival." I added.

"Even better." Axel commented.

"They'll be setting up the festival in less than ten minutes." Xunakiy said.

"Then let's hurry over then!" Larxene answered.

"First things first!" Xunakiy shot her hand up. "Who wants to wear yukatas?"

"What's a yukata?" Demyx asked while still on the ground.

"It's a traditional clothing that we can wear to the festival! They're all so colorful with different designs and stuff! It kind of resembles a dress, but both genders can wear it!"

"I'd like to wear one!" Marluxia shouted from within the book.

"Of course…" Most of us sighed.

"Who else wants to wear one?"

"It sounds like fun! I'd like one!" Demyx shot his hand up from the ground.

"Anyone else? You know what? We can always buy them at the festival!"

"Okay, on a scale of one to ten, how much fun is a festival here?"

"Oh, it's lots of fun! I'd have to say a…nine point nine!"

"And the extra point one?" Vexen asked.

"It's the um…crowds." Xunakiy bowed her head. But then she got right back up. "But if we get there early, we'll have a great time!"

"So let's go already!" Demyx shouted while finally getting up.

"Okay!"

* * *

We went through a portal that she opened up, and the first thing we did was shop for some yukatas. I told Xunakiy and Marluxia that they had yukatas back at the castle, so of course, they didn't have to shop. All we had to do was wait for everyone else to pick out what they want to wear.

"How does this look on me?" Demyx asked. He was wearing a white yukata, with designs of dark blue fish and waves. Water themed, as usual.

"You look great in it, Demyx-senpai!" Xunakiy peeked from her dressing room and went right back in.

"You look a lot better than Marluxia over there." Axel pointed. Marluxia was wearing the yukata he wore to Dreamland Park, when we first visited Xunakiy's world as a group. Of course he loved it, much to Axel's disgust. Axel moved on to try picking out his own yukata.

"Hey Zexy!" Demyx waved in my direction. "Would Xunakiy look as good as me?"

"The chances are that she would look better than you when she changes to her yukata." I answered.

"You're right. There's no way I'd have chance of looking as great as your girlfriend."

"Yeah—SAY WHAT!?"

"Girlfriend! Girlfriend! Zexy has a girlfriend!" Demyx sang.

"Shut. Up."

"What if I don't want to?"

"I swear, do you two always have to bicker like old ladies?" Larxene came out from a dressing room. I took it that she just went along with us just to buy some other form of clothing rather than a yukata. She wore a long black skirt, a white blouse with rolled up sleeves, a black vest and a black tie. For footwear, she was wearing knee-high black boots.

"We don't bicker like old ladies!" I shouted.

"We bicker like old men!" Demyx jumped.

"Ye—SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"Zexion-kun, Demyx-senpai. You should stop arguing." Xunakiy said as she came out of her dressing room. Wearing a light-blue yukata with dark blue flowers and snowflakes, and a purple sash. I almost forgot that I was the person who actually made that yukata for hours.

"Xunakiy, you look adorable!" Larxene hugged Xunakiy. I think she's actually accepted her big sister role by now.

"Thank you, Onee-san! You have a questionable taste in fashion but you look great also."

"Don't mention it. Now all we got to do is wait for…wait a minute." Larxene paused. "Has anyone seen Saix?"

"Wow. Thinking about it, he disappeared during the Taboo nobody attack." Demyx answered.

"Maybe he'll turn up at the festival." I added.

"Could happen." Larxene shrugged.

"Me an' Roxas are just going to the festival in regular clothes." Axel came from behind Larxene, with Roxas in tow.

"Same here." Xigbar walked over. "Couldn't find anything that would suit someone like me."

"Nothing could suit a pirate here." Demyx snickered.

"Shut up."

"What about Vexen-sensei?" Xunakiy asked.

Vexen ran over, but he wasn't wearing anything new. "I couldn't find anything else either."

"Everybody ready to go?"

"Pretty much." I answered.

"Let's go then!"

"Hooray!" Demyx repeatedly jumped up and down.

* * *

When we got there, it was actually a lot more busier than Xunakiy imagined. People were there already, and it was starting to fill up pretty fast.

"You were saying, Xunakiy?" Axel leaned over.

"I didn't know it would be this populated…"

"Well, while we're here, we might as well enjoy ourselves…" Larxene sighed.

"GAAAH! WHY THE HELL DOES IT KEEP BREAKING!?" A very irritated voice came from a game booth.

"Looks like someone isn't enjoying themselves." Demyx commented.

"Wonder who it is…" Axel sighed. We tried to get a closer look at the irritated player, and guess who it was.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE REDUCED TO PLAYING SUCH AN IMMATURE GAME!" Axel shouted.

"Shut up! The stupid net keeps breaking…" Saix muttered under his game. He was playing a game in which you were supposed to catch a goldfish in a small paper net. But apparently, the nets kept breaking, which was evident by the small pile of nets piled up right next to the blue haired man. It was pretty funny to see him like this, and everyone nearly burst out in laughter.

"Wow. Saix…you have the worst luck…" Marluxia commented.

"Shut up Marluxia…Grr…That fish is taunting me! When you're big enough, you'll go straight to the frying pan!" Saix was waving his finger at a certain fish. The fish responded by jumping and making a big enough splash that got Saix's face wet. Saix was less than tolerant of this fish, and kept pounding his fists in the water, which began causing a scene.

"Saix-sensei!" Xunakiy jumped from behind the small crowd and punched Saix in the cheek. She raised her hand up to whoever was managing the boot. "I will avenge you! I'll play!"

"You don't have to do that—" Saix, not deterred by the punch, was interrupted by a pat on the head from Xunakiy.

"Don't worry!" She was handed a small net, and she bent down to put it in the water. She carefully looked for one, and she laid the net underneath it and lifted the net. Fortunately, it didn't break, like Saix's. Saix looked embarrassed.

"Looks like you won." I added.

"I sure did!" She turned around and was smiling at me. When she turned around again, she was face to face to the goldfish she caught. But being face to face with a fish when you turn around would be a little startling. Well, for anyone else it was, but for Xunakiy…

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" She quickly crabwalked away and hid behind Demyx, who was playing a different game at the time.

"Xunakiy, it's just your goldfish…" I used my hand to signal that she could come back. She sighed a sigh of relief, crawled back to the game stand, and took the goldfish. Then she started waving it back and forth in front of Saix's face.

"It's your fish! You have a bone to pick with it!"

"Tch." He took the plastic bag that the fish was held in and stared at the fish. "I'll go release it in a lake."

"Why?" Xunakiy asked.

"THIS THING ISN'T WORTH FRYING AFTER THE TROUBLE OF TRYING TO CATCH IT!!" He shouted.

"Xunakiy!" Demyx shouted. He was waving around a familiar messed up plush…

"What's up with the panda?" Xigbar asked.

"Laugh all you want, but I think that…" Demyx looked up into the sky, and looked back down after a few seconds. "…Mr. Dan-Dan is a perfect friend for me!"

"Mr. Dan-Dan…" Xunakiy repeated. "…That's a great name!"

"I wonder if that really was a good choice…" Marluxia sighed.

"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF NAME IS MR. DAN-DAN!?" Larxene shouted.

"An adorable one!"

"I don't think so…" Vexen added.

"You guys are all just jealous!"

"WHY THE HELL WOULD WE BE JEALOUS OF A MESSED UP PANDA!?" Axel and Larxene yelled in unison.

* * *

There were similar scuffles like that, such as when Kimaru the chocobo was actually the prize for a 'Guess–the-Weight' game. I actually won him back, much to his pleasure, because there were several chefs there that wanted to cook him.

"What should we name the little guy?" Larxene asked.

"Hmm…Himawari…Tanpopo…" Xunakiy was guessing names.

"How about something simple…" I added. "Like Kimaru?"

"Kimaru…Kimaru…Okie dokie!" Xunakiy agreed. She bent down and pet the chocobo on the head. "Do you like the name that Zexion-kun gave you?"

Kimaru responded with knocking me over and trying to eat my hair, like he used to do…

"Aww…I feel jealous of you!" Demyx said happily.

"Kimaru likes you!" Was what most of the members said to me.

"Speaking of which…where did he go?" Saix brought Kimaru's absence to our attention.

"Already we've lost our new pet…" I sighed.

"Don't be cynical." Vexen criticized.

"I spotted him!" Marluxia pointed at a cotton candy machine, and Kimaru was rolling in it, which was quickly repelling away business.

"Kimaru-san! Don't do that!" Xunakiy ran over.

Xunakiy quickly got Kimaru out of the cotton candy machine and he had a color of swap from yellow to pink and blue. Demyx decided to clean him up by spraying him with water, but we decided to net let others people see, and so we retreated back to the hill.

* * *

"There you go!" Demyx exclaimed. And then he hugged Kimaru. "You're squeaky clean! And as cute as ever!"

"Demyx-senpai is very fond of Kimaru-chan isn't he?" Xunakiy asked me.

"Yes he is." I answered.

"It's too bad we never got to enjoy the full blast of the festival…" Xunakiy asked.

"There will be other festivals, so don't worry." I assured her.

"This is definitely a Kodak picture moment!" Demyx shouted.

"What the hell is Kodak?" Axel asked from far away while trying to catch a firefly.

"Okay, there were these girls who were having a fun time together, and another friend if theirs said that it was a 'Kodak picture moment'. I don't know what it means, but I think it's that they're having a memorable moment!"

"Whatever—HEY! You get back here!" Axel started chasing the same firefly ran off.

"Save one or two butterflies for me!" Demyx jumped in.

"They're fireflies, Demyx!" Roxas yelled.

"They may act like they're annoying each other, but they look pretty close, don't they, Zexion-kun?"

"Mm…I guess so." I suddenly remembered that weird dream in the flower field that I had. "Say…is there anyone else that you would like to have a 'Kodak picture moment' with?"

"Eh!? No! Not really! No! Of course not!" She looked surprised. Obviously she was lying. Was there someone else that she…liked…before she became a nobody?

"Are you being honest with me?" I asked her. She looked down.

"Can we just…not talk about it?"

"We can't just avoid—"

"It's a lover's quarrel!" Marluxia shouted. How come we're always cut off like this?

"So, Little Bookworm? What did you do to upset her?" Larxene came along and added salt to the wound.

"I didn't do anything—"

"Of _course_ you didn't…" Marluxia argued. Then he ran over to Xunakiy. "Don't worry my white rose! I shall shield you from the horrors of this socially ungraceful Bookworm of terror!"

"The hell are you rambling on about!?" I shouted.

"Unlike most times, when I hate this guy, I actually agree with him." Larxene put a fist on my head. "You are obviously stifling her in some way."

"I will leave this conversation before my sanity departs." I said flatly. I decided to walk back to the tree where Xunakiy and I sat.

For some reason, I slept.

* * *

"_Arc-sama! You can't leave me!_"

Another dream. I saw Arc and Yukina at the same park where they first met, with both of them being aged four more years.

"_I don't want to leave either, but I have to go._" Arc put his hand on Yukina's head.

"_But—!_"

"_I'm pretty sure I'm not the one for you._" Arc said while looking down.

"_Of course you are!_"

"_You need to find someone else that can return your love. I know that I'm not your special 'someone.'_"

"_Can you at least not go!?_"

"_I'm sorry, I would stay with you if I wanted to, but I have to leave. I'll come back here sometime soon_."

"_How soon!?_"

"I don't know, but I think you should start looking for someone else."

"Who else would understand me as good as you do? There isn't anyone else…that would understand my loneliness!"

"There should be at least one person out there who would be as lonely as you are. And I think it would be the best choice. For you and that other person."

"I doubt it!"

"Don't doubt yourself. You'll find someone. Trust me."

Suddenly a strong wind blew, and Yukina was forced to cover her eyes. When she looked back, Arc was gone. She got on her knees and started crying. This was obviously painful for her. But does that mean that I shouldn't love her? Would I make this even more painful for her?

* * *

"Zexion-kun? Are you alright?"

I opened my eyes to see Xunakiy sitting beside me.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

"Nnn…sort of?" I sat up.

"I hope it wasn't _too_ bad."

"Umm…it wasn't…"

"Glad to hear that!"

Her smile that came afterwards was a smile that seemed half-hearted.

"Did someone in your life…ever leave?" I asked her. It was a question that would normally be 'out-of-the-blue', so of course she had a surprised look on her face. But then she turned the other way.

"Well…two people."

"Were you ever depressed?"

"I was…but…I still am."

"Why?"

"Because…every time I care about someone…" She started to cry. "They would end up leaving me! And…I'm scared of losing someone else!"

"Are you scared of losing someone now?" I felt like an idiot. I was prying open feelings that I shouldn't have known about. But, I felt that this would be the only way that she would stop feeling lonely. I also thought that in some way, this would help me some way too.

"I-I'm scared of losing…you. Before…I was sort of glad that our…um…kiss was cut off earlier. Because I thought I would lose you also if we got any closer."

"Don't worry…" I brushed away some of her hair that was covering her face, and we both looked into each other's eyes. "…I will never leave you."

"Promise?" She held up her little finger.

"I promise." We locked our fingers together, making sure that our promise would be firm.

We leaned in closer for a second try at a kiss, but…

"Demyx! Move your leg!"

"You're supposed to move your head!"

"Shut up! We're going to—"

Axel, Demyx, and Roxas stumbled out of the treetop, and landed in-between Xunakiy and me.

"What were you three doing up there?" I asked angrily.

"We were…um…" Demyx started fidgeting.

"That firefly I was trying to catch earlier got high up, so I tried to use the tree to get to it!" Axel pointed up in the air.

"How does that explain Demyx and Roxas being up there?"

"I was…um…err…trying to see how high the tree was!" Demyx shouted.

"_Right_…and you Roxas?" Xunakiy asked.

"I can't tell a lie in such a delicate situation such as this. We were up in the tree to see what was going on between you and—"

"Shut up shut up shut up! He accidentally drank some wine! Don't listen to him!" Axel tried to "explain", while he was also covering Roxas' mouth.

"Of course he did…" I smacked my forehead. "Look. You can't tell anyone about this."

"I think we would get in trouble if Shishou ever found out."

"No one?" Demyx asked.

"No one." I waved my finger.

"Marluxia?"

"No."

"Larxene?""

"No."

"Xigbar?"

"He wouldn't let me hear the end of it."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a no! No one can find out! You got that!?"

"Zexy gave me that scary look!" Demyx shouted.

"Don't worry. We won't tell anyone." Roxas assured us. At least he was trustworthier than Axel and Demyx combined.

"Thank you very much. Axel-senpai, Demyx-senpai, Roxas-senpai." She smiled at them, and suddenly they started blushing.

"I can't help it." Axel sighed.

"You're just too cute!" All three of them shouted.

"Hey." I intervened. "Hands off. She's mine."

* * *

((Sorry for such a late update! I apologize! I feel so stupid right now. I don't know how I should end this. At least I have my next fanfic outline ready. sighs Oh well, you know the drill. I thank all the faithful readers who made/are making this fanfic a success!))


	25. A Few Secrets Revealed

Part 22

"Wow." Roxas said.

"I can't believe you actually said it." Axel added.

"Is it that hard to accept that?" I asked.

"Pretty much." Demyx replied.

"How unfortunate…" Xunakiy commented.

"Anyway…" Demyx cut in. "It's getting a little late…." He pulled out Mr. Dan-Dan. "Dan-Dan says so!"

"Dan-Dan-san is wise." Xunakiy bows to the little panda doll.

"Are you sure you chose a good girlfriend?" Axel asked while pointing to Xunakiy, who was now shaking hands with the panda.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy."

"But you are crazy!" Demyx turned my way. "You're crazy with love!"

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!"

"No need to get so upset, Zexy."

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!?"

"Mm…" Demyx counted fingers but he only held up two, and then he shrugged. "Once or twice."

"I'm pretty sure it's more than that…" I scratched my head.

"Hey guys…" Xunakiy put a hand on my shoulder. When I looked back, she was rubbing her eyes. "How about we go to a hotel and continue our activities tomorrow? I'm getting a little sleepy…" She fell over, and I caught her.

"She fell asleep." Axel pointed out.

"Yes, I know that." I changed her position, so that she would be a little more comfortable. "We might as well hurry up and get ourselves to a hotel."

"Mr. Dan-Dan agrees!" Demyx waved the panda around.

"Enough with the stupid panda or I will personally give him a premature cremation." Axel gave Demyx a 'scary look'.

"Axel looks scary!" Demyx shouted while running back to the other side of the hill.

"I didn't know he's _that_ immature." Roxas said swiftly.

"Let's try hotel searching before it gets too late…" I suggested.

"Good idea."

* * *

"Why, Zexion! I never thought you'd embrace your innermost feelings so soon!" Marluxia ran over to me. "I must say…I've underestimated you—wait. Our snow maiden looks dead."

"That's because she's sleeping. Don't shout so much, or you'll wake her up." I said calmly, trying not to let Marluxia's crappy personality get to me.

"Oh well, seeing as she's asleep, we might as well go hotel searching." Vexen said.

"Zexy, isn't that what you said earlier?" Axel asked.

"First Demyx, now you?" I asked in return. Axel shrugged.

We went on to our little conversations, which didn't take too long. Saix was the only one that didn't take part. Instead, he simply stared at the moon. And when we were about to leave, he took a small peek at me and Xunakiy, and I eyed him back. His reaction was the thing that left me feeling uneasy. His lips curled into a small smile when he turned and walked away with the rest of us.

"Looks like…I'll be winning my bet sometime soon." Was what I heard him say.

"What do you mean by—"

"This is awesome! You're carrying her! If only I had a camera…then I could blackmail you!" Xigbar poked me in the cheek.

"Hey!"

* * *

We went to the nearest hotel, and we got three rooms. Vexen, Marluxia, and Xigbar in one, Roxas, Axel, and Demyx in the second one, and Xunakiy, Larxene, Saix and me in the last one.

"There are only two beds…" Larxene said as we entered our room.

"I'll be happy to sleep somewhere else." Saix raised his hand.

"Fine. You do that, while I take the first bed, while Romeo and Juliet take the second."

"Romeo and Juliet!?"

"Shut up and sleep." Larxene crawled over to the nearest bed and buried her head underneath a pillow.

I just simply laid Xunakiy on the bed while I just sat down in a corner and leaned my head against the wall. Saix got himself an extra pillow and went to the balcony that was outside. He ended up sleeping on one of the chairs. The transparent doors that led to the balcony were conveniently placed right next to me, which made me fell uneasy. I still doubted he had good intentions when he joined our group.

"Well, good night." I said to myself as I drifted off.

* * *

For some reason, I woke up while it was still dark outside. I also found out that Xunakiy wasn't in her bed. When I looked over to the balcony, Xunakiy was out on the balcony with Saix.

"How did this happen?" Xunakiy asked. I scrambled back to my corner and pretended to be asleep. Eavesdropping is a terrible habit, but I'm worried about what's happening.

"I have no idea. It just happened. I can't explain it."

"Oh well…I'm happy for you!"

"You are?"

"Of course! No wait…is it so surprising for you?"

"Well…yes. The other members would kill me if they heard of this…"

"What do they have against you?"

"I honestly have no idea…but if they heard about this…"

"Don't worry…I'll keep your secret safe! You can count on me!"

"Thank you. Hopefully…having my heart back wouldn't be so bad after all…"

Unfortunately, I fell asleep after that.

* * *

I woke up, and found out that something was on me. When I turned my head, Xunakiy was leaning her head on my shoulder. She looked…cute.

"Um…Xunakiy…you should wake up…" I tried nudging her, and then she opened her eyes.

"Zexion…kun…is it morning already?" She asked.

"Mm-hmm…"

"Oh, I must've been heavy for you…I'm sorry…" She got up, but then she fell back, and I caught her.

"If you're still tired, go back to sleep."

"I'm awake!" She jumped up.

"Okay then…" I looked at the balcony through the transparent doors…and Saix wasn't there. "Where the hell is Saix!?"

"Shut…up…I'm still…sleeping…" Larxene growled from under the pillow.

"But where's—"

"Good morning everyone…" Saix came back into the room with a bag.

"Where the hell have you been?" I asked.

"I bought this…" He pulled out a bag of…pancake mix.

"Pancakes! We can have pancakes for breakfast!" Xunakiy clapped. "Thank you for buying this, Saix-sensei!"

"Great…your shouting woke me up…" Larxene pulled her head out from the pillow. "Saix…if you were going to get us breakfast…you should have just bought us to-go pancakes…"

"Oh. I'll just return this then…"

"Don't worry! Making pancakes is fun! If you don't know, I'll teach you!"

"Okay?"

"And while you guys are making pancakes, I'm taking a shower…"

"Have fun then…" Larxene waved.

* * *

After taking a short five-minute shower, I put on my jeans and started drying my hair with a towel. While I was drying myself, I was thinking about that "conversation" between Xunakiy and Saix. How the hell could he have gotten his heart back? But if he said he didn't know how he got it, I can't exactly blame him. When would me and Xunakiy get our hearts back?

"How did that happen?" I asked myself. I had a funny feeling I was being watched. I looked at the door, and it was slightly open. "Okay, you can either stay out or get in."

"I-I'm sorry." Xunakiy slowly got inside and closed the door. "I wanted to tell you that your pancakes were ready but…I sort of got caught up…"

"Caught up by what?"

"Well…um…you…um…didn't put a shirt on…" So…does that mean that she was looking at my…

"Um…you should just make the others their pancakes…" I blushed while I was pondering the previous thought. At the same time, I put my black shirt on. My hair was still a little wet, but I could just try drying again. When I looked back, Xunakiy's face was all red. "Are you alright? Are you sure you're not having a fever?" I walked up to her to put my hand on her forehead.

"I…I...um…" Her face was going even redder while she looked up at me. "I'm fine! Nothing wrong with me!" She took a step back.

"Why was your face red then…" I'm such an idiot! By now I should know what she was blushing about! But I don't know! I make a HORRIBLE boyfriend!

"Um…well…it's just that…you look…um…handsome…when your hair is still a little wet…um…" She tried to look up, but then she looked down again. "Well…" She looked up again. "THERE! I SAID IT!"

I tried to close the gap between us by taking a step forward. I put my hand on her head and I ruffled her hair a little.

"You don't have to be embarrassed by saying that."

"O-Okay…now can you get your pancakes before they get cold?" When she looked up, she blushed again. Then she just ran out of the room.

"Hey! Wait! Xunakiy—" I went out of the bathroom, but when I opened the door, something flew in my face.

"Bull's-eye!" Larxene shouted. "Nice shot, Saix!"

"What did I hit?"

The pancake slowly slid off my face. Xunakiy then waited for it to drop, and she caught it on a plate. Was it just me? Or was it true that Saix was really wearing an apron?

"Larxene got hungry and got tired of waiting for you, so she ate one of your pancakes. But that's solved because now you have this extra one!" She handed me the plate with three pancakes.

"Thank. You. Very. Much."

"You are welcome!" She hopped into the small kitchen. "Saix-sensei! You can take off the apron now! I still need to cook your waffles!"

"I felt that I should make my own. This is actually my first time cooking." We all stared at Saix. "Is it that surprising?"

"Yup." Larxene said flatly.

* * *

It ended up raining shortly after we finished breakfast, and we decided to check up on the others. Vexen, Marluxia, And Xigbar all got drunk, so now they had a hangover and ended up sleeping again. Roxas, Axel, and Demyx seemed bored out of their minds. They were all doing something different when we came into their room.

"What are you dimwits doing?" Larxene asked.

"Well, I'm watching TV static..." Roxas answered.

"I'm sitting upside-down on a chair…" Axel sighed.

"I'm watching the rain…" Demyx said.

"You seem bored." I commented.

"We are…" All three of them replied in monotone voices.

"Want to come with us for another day out?" Xunakiy asked.

"YES!" They all replied. Roxas jumped off the couch, Demyx ran over, and Axel landed on his face.

"Are you okay, Axel-senpai?" Xunakiy asked.

"Of course I am!" Axel growled.

"Then how come you look annoyed?"

"I. Am. Fine."

* * *

We ended up bringing Kimaru with us (Anyone know where he's been?). He liked the rain, which was obvious, seeing as he liked going in and out of it and getting us wet by ruffling his feathers too much.

"Any idea where we should go?" Xunakiy asked. We were waiting underneath shade and watching cars go by.

"Mr. Dan-Dan thinks we should go to the pet store!" Demyx shouted. Kimaru seconded that by squeaking.

"Well, we haven't gone there yet…" Roxas sighed.

"So long as we actually do something!" Axel yelled.

"So we're all in favor?" Saix asked.

"Yup."

"Let's go then!" Xunakiy jumped up and down.

* * *

The nearest pet store was large and you could actually play with each of the animals, which everyone liked. Like almost all the other places we've been to, we were the only people there. Kimaru went to the aviary and interacted with the all the other birds there, Roxas stared at fish, and Demyx joined him. Larxene just watched us.

"I don't know what I should do here…" Saix sighed.

"Don't worry, Saix-sensei!" Xunakiy dragged him over to a small, enclosed space filled with rabbits. "You just grab a bag filled with veggies and you feed them!"

"I can't see how you people enjoy this…" Saix sighed. He sat down and took the bag of vegetables from Xunakiy and started feeding the nearest rabbit. Suddenly, all the rabbits swarmed all over him. "How did I end up going here?" He asked himself as one rabbit climbed onto his leg.

"Aww…the rabbits all love Saix!" Axel yelled. Saix growled in response. "I'll just go check out the dogs and convince Roxas to join me. Fish are boring!" He walked over to the back of the store, which had a separate room for the dogs, but I was able to see him drag Roxas over.

"Zexion-kun!" Xunakiy took my hand. "Let's go play with the cats!"

"Um…sure?" I had never handled a cat, or any other animal for that matter. So Xunakiy walked us over to an encaged space that had all these cat toys. It was hard not to step on one.

"I think these cats are adorable!" She held up a middle-sized cat and put it in front of my face. "Don't you agree?"

"I'm not entirely sure…" I said while the cat was trying to claw at my hair.

"He likes you!"

"I think that's obvious…"

We both cleared out spaces so we can sit on the floor, and we ended up having fun. Well, Xunakiy did, but all the cats wanted to do was play with my hair.

"Having fun?" Xunakiy said as she waved around a stick with a mouse on it. The cats all tried to fight over it.

"A little…" Somehow I was in the same predicament as Saix. All the cats somehow were all over me. When I tried to see how Saix was doing, he was still feeding the rabbits, but they didn't want the food. They all crawled all over him. I saw that one was on his shoulder, while two were on his head, and several were on his arms. Despite having a fan club populated by rabbits, he seemed a little…happy.

"Surprised?" Xunakiy asked me. I turned and she was hugging a cat that was pawing at strands of hair that fell over her shoulders. "From what Axel-senpai tells me, Saix usually doesn't do anything besides serve Shishou. But I think he actually looks like he's having fun with us."

"I…I think so too…"

"Something bothering you?" She looked at me with a worried face. Dammit! She looked too cute…

"I accidentally eavesdropped on your conversation last night…" I sighed. She simply blinked.

"You won't tell anyone?" She struck me with 'those eyes'. And I fell victim.

"Of course."

"Thank you!" She held up the cat in front of her face. "You're so cute!"

"Hey…"

"What?"

"You've been asking me if something's wrong, but…have you ever considered taking care of yourself?" I felt as if I was forced to ask that. But it had to come out sooner or later…

"I-I think I'm perfectly fine!"

"I don't think you're telling the truth." Then I looked at the cat she was holding. "Don't you agree with me, Mr. Cat?" Mr. Cat probably wasn't the best name, but he responded by forcing its way out of Xunakiy's arms.

"Both of you are right…" She sighed. "I just…miss…certain people…" She started crying. "There's my big brother…"

"And Arc?" She seemed surprised when I completed her sentence, but the n she looked back down.

"Yeah…" The cat walked onto her lap, and she started stroking its back. "I'm happy with you, and everyone else, but…I just can't help but miss them."

"Don't worry, it's perfectly normal…" I held up my little finger. "I made a promise. I intend to keep it."

"I…" She wiped her eyes. "I know you will!" She stroked the cat's fur, to which it responded with content purrs. "I have something to ask."

"What is it?"

"You know how our names are anagrams of our true names with an 'X'?"

"Yes? What about it?"

"What's your true name?" She leaned forward.

"Its…Ienzo."

"Ienzo is a nice name! It sounds nice and original! It sounds a lot better than Yukina—"

"Why did you ask?"

"Well…I asked because…" She laid the cat down. "I have a feeling that you would soon be addressed by that name again."

"What do you mean—"

"I don't think the dogs liked me…" Roxas came in with a torn up jacket.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"The dogs…didn't like me." He sat down, and several of my cats went over to him. "I think I'll just stick with you guys for a while."

"The more the merrier!" Xunakiy cheered.

"Actually, I think I'll get out." I stood up and the cats got off of me. "Bye, Mr. Cat."

"Mr. Cat?" Roxas asked. Then he burst into laughter.

"It was last minute…" I sighed.

* * *

I walked out of the large cage and decided to see what Saix was doing. He was…napping. He was leaning against the wall while a bunch of other rabbits were sleeping with him.

"Looks cute, don't you think?"

"GAH!" I looked back. "Larxene! You didn't have to scare me like that…"

"But I did anyway." She looked again at the sleeping Saix. "I never thought he would sleep at a time like this."

"I thought so too."

"Thought?"

"I think he…changed in some way…" In some way, I gave her a hint of what happened.

"Could be." She yawned.

"EVIL DOGS!" Axel came out from the back of the store, with ripped up clothing. He put his hand on my head, and took a deep breath, and then he straightened himself out. "Don't ask about what happened."

"Okay…" I sighed. Suddenly I heard Kimaru scrambling out of the aviary, with a mouth full of food.

"What happened to you?" Larxene asked the chocobo. Kimaru squeaked like crazy.

"I know how to translate!" Demyx suddenly dropped out of nowhere. "He says that he borrowed food from the birds in the aviary and that they got angry and chased him out!"

"How the hell do you know if that's what he was saying?"

"Mr. Dan-Dan can translate!" He held up the panda doll.

"I wonder how else it could be useful…" Axel sighed.

"Are we all having fun?"

"Sa-Sa-Saix!" I jumped. "When did you wake up!?"

"Just now. Though my nap would've been longer if you people hadn't been shouting." Saix slowly took a rabbit off of his head.

"Saix-sensei, did you enjoy your nap?" Xunakiy asked upon leaving the cats.

"Yes. Very much."

"So! Did everyone else have fun?" She asked.

"I guess…" Larxene sighed.

"But where else are we to go?" Demyx asked.

"Well, I think we've had enough 'fun'. So can we go back to the castle?"

"Let's retrieve the old men first…" Roxas added.

"Agreed."

* * *

"What happened?" I asked upon entering the room. The room was very messed up with overturned furniture, with Vexen, Marluxia, and Xigbar nowhere to be seen.

"I think a battle was fought here." Demyx pointed out.

"Of course there was a battle, you dimwit!" Larxene smacked him on the head.

"Are you guys back?" Marluxia ran out from somewhere. "We were attacked…again."

"By none other than the Taboo nobodies." Vexen added upon entering the room.

"Sorry we weren't here to help…" Xunakiy sighed.

"That's okay!" Xigbar popped out of a portal. "They were small fry! If they were that hard to fight, you would find a large, gaping hole in the wall!"

"Anyway, we're going back to the castle." Saix pointed out.

"Let's go back before we're ambushed again." Marluxia agreed.

"Let's go home then." Larxene said.

* * *

Upon returning to the castle, we simply went back to our rooms. The two strange things that I realized was that it was raining back at the castle, and I still didn't clean up my room. So, I asked her if she could help me out, and she happily went along.

"Umm…what did you do to this room?" She said as she gathered a pile of books. I shrugged.

"By the way, can you help me clean up the desk?"

"Sure!"

Cleaning up the room was tiring, time-consuming, and most of all, BORING. Despite that, it felt rewarding to collapse on the bed and take a deep breath.

"Thanks for helping me out." I said as I stretched my limbs.

"No problem." She sighed.

"Would it be a problem…if you could sleep in my room tonight?" I asked. I think I went insane showing what I actually feel like this. I'm practically breaking the laws of the universe. Nobodies can't feel. At least I thought we couldn't.

"I wouldn't mind." She said as she sat up on the bed. "You know what?"

"What?" I sat up.

"Nobodies can't have feelings, right?"

"That's what everyone thinks."

"But…I think, that…everyone does have feelings. Just like when we were whole. They're just…a little harder to reach."

"I think I get what you mean…"

"You do?"

"Umm…yeah. I get it."

"Then…hopefully I won't regret this…"

"Regret wha—" I was cut off by a…kiss. After getting past the shock, I slowly closed my eyes.

A kiss. That's what it was. It could've meant something, but at the same time, I felt as if it didn't mean anything. But even though it might not have meant anything, it still happened. I know it did. When we opened our eyes, and our lips parted, both of us, were blushing. Sure, we were blushing, but we weren't blushing as much as did before.

"Umm…I need some fresh air!" I quickly walked out of the room.

* * *

"I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!" I yelled out into the rainy sky.

I kissed a girl, and then I just walk off like it never happened! What the hell was that!? I bet Xunakiy actually did regret kissing me. Dammit! Even though I could try forgetting about it, someone actually could've seen us! That makes the situation worse! What if whoever saw us told everyone!? That would mark tomorrow as the worst day of my non-existent life.

"Why do you always come out here when it's raining?" I looked up. Xunakiy.

"Is there something wrong with this?"

"No. I'm just wondering why you do it."

"hmm…I guess it's because it feels relaxing."

"Hmm…it feels relaxing?" She sat down next to me, and leaned her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes.. "It really does feel relaxing."

"I guess that comes as a surprise to you."

"Well, it kind of does…" She slightly opened her eyes. "But it isn't much. Because… you're here with me." She went back to having her eyes closed, and I put my arm on her shoulder.

"Xunakiy…do you like life as a Nobody?"

"It has its ups and downs…but I think I can oversee the downs." She opened her eyes. "In other words…I think I like it. But…"

"But…?"

"But even though I like this life…I would like to go back to my old one…"

"Even though you have memories you would like to forget?"

"At first…they were memories that I thought I would be better off without…but now I realize…" She looked up and closed her eyes. "It's those kind of memories that make us strong."

"You know, we should bet back to my room if you're going to sleep here…" I said after about an hour or so in the rain.

"It would've been nice if we actually did stay here, but to the members…I guess that would've been hard to explain…"

"Exactly. Now let's go." I stood up and helped Xunakiy up, and together, we walked back.

* * *

I forgot when I actually slept, or when I actually got to my room, but I could tell I was in a dream. With Saix and…Karasu.

"_I can tell why no one actually likes you._" Karasu growled. "_You never did what I told you to when I taught you how to summon Taboo nobodies_."

"_Of course not. Why would I want to kill Little Bookworm and Xunakiy?_"

"_Damn you!_" She took out her whip and tried to grab Saix, but Saix simply jumped out of the way and landed gently at another spot.

"_You don't realize what you really are, do you?_"

"_Shut up! I know already! That's why I'm bent on trying to kill those two!_"

"_Heartless are practically the manifestation of darkness within one's heart. And since you were the dark side to Yukina, you were able to have an actual form. Therefore_—"

"_I thought I told you to shut up!_"

"_You are a heartless_."

So many things were revealed during their fight. Saix was the one who made the Taboo nobodies, Karasu was Yukina's heartless, and…if I could defeat her, I would have a shot at giving Xunakiy the life that she wants.

* * *

((I had sympathy for Saix, seeing as so many people viewed him in a bad light. So, I decided to give him a bigger role. That bit of info was just in case you're wondering. Anyways, final chapter of this fanfic would be either the next one or the one after that. I think I finally sorted things out and have the ending in mind. Thanks for reading this chapter! Review!))


	26. Final Chapter

Part 23

I woke up, with Xunakiy not in the bed with me.

"Xunakiy—"

"Yes?" I whirled around and I found her leaning against the wall.

"Umm…"

"I was waiting for you! I'm pretty sure everyone hasn't waken up yet, so I think we should make breakfast, don't you think?"

"Umm…sure…"

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"Okay." She smiled. "But if you ever need anything…" She gave me a thumbs up. "Just ask me!"

"I will."

"But then again…" She tapped her cheek. "I forgot that I didn't plan out what we should eat for breakfast..."

"We have left over pancake mix, right?"

"Oh yeah!"

As she rushed out of the door, I couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong about today. When I looked out the door, Xunakiy was far off into the hallway. Taking the chance, I ran off to Saix's room. But when I tried to enter, there was some sort of barrier that kept me from going any further.

"What are you doing here?" I jumped. "C'mon, Zexion! Everyone's waiting! Let's go!" Xunakiy took my sleeve and dragged me back to where everyone else was waiting.

* * *

"Alley—oop!" Once again, I found a pancake flung into my face.

Slowly, the newly made pancake slid off of my face.

"Two pancakes in two days…" I sighed. "Anyone care to guess who threw that?" Everyone pointed at Demyx with a frying pan, and then Demyx tried to point at Axel, to which Axel responded with an angry glare.

"I didn't do it!" Demyx yelped.

"Oh please, it's obvious!" Larxene smacked on the back of the head.

"That hurt!"

"So what if it did!?" Demyx responded with a shrug.

"Enough squabbling, I want to get on with the pancakes…" Roxas murmured.

"Roxas-senpai is right!" Xunakiy shot her hand up.

"Exactly." Axel agreed. "So shut up and eat."

"But a pancake is never complete without…MAPLE SYRUP!" Xigbar shouted.

"I'm not putting that crap on my pancakes!" Axel objected.

"Hooray for the syrup!" Marluxia cheered.

"See!" Xigbar shouted. "Marly's going with the program!"

"Who are you calling Marly!?"

"Your name's long."

"I don't give a damn about your name, I just want my pancakes…"

"Roxas is an eager beaver today!" Demyx hugged Roxas. "It's a surprise to see you excited about something!"

"Wanting something doesn't mean you're excited about it."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

"It doesn't?"

"On with breakfast!" Xunakiy broke everything up. "Let's eat before we start up another argument!"

"But arguing with each other is what we're about!"

"We. Are. Eating. Breakfast."

"O-Okay…"

* * *

Breakfast went on silently, until everyone noticed that I wasn't eating the pancakes.

"I'm not hungry." I said when I noticed all of them staring at me.

"Of course you're not!" Larxene put a hand on my shoulder. "You just don't have any syrup on your 'cakes!" She grabbed the bottle and poured what was left inside onto the pancakes. Before I knew it, my pancakes were drowning in a lake of thick, brown, sticky, glop.

"Onee-chan!" Xunakiy made an annoyed face. "Of he isn't hungry, he isn't hungry!" She looked at my plate, and then she switched her plate with mine. "You can eat mine!"

"Oh. Um…thanks…"

"Isn't that cute!" Demyx shouted.

"A moment of romance!" Marluxia joined in.

"How the hell are pancakes romantic?" Axel asked.

Not paying attention to their argument, I quickly got over with breakfast and tried to get back to Saix's room before anyone noticed…which I was able to successfully accomplish.

* * *

"Dammit!" I yelled out. The barrier from before was still there, and I still couldn't get through. I tried slamming into it, punching it (despite my weak muscles), and throwing my books at it. I couldn't break through at all. "Why can't I break it?"

"Are you asking yourself that?"

I looked back and found Xunakiy staring at me. For some unknown reason, everyone else was there also…but they all just stood there with expressionless faces. I noticed that Saix and Xemnas were the only ones not present.

"Why are you here, Zexion-kun?"

"I'm trying to find a way to get your heart back!"

"Is that it?"

"Yes." Suddenly Marluxia faded away. "What the hell—" Then Larxene faded. "Wh-What's happening?"

"Are you asking me?"

"What?" Axel and Demyx faded at the same time. "Well, you and I are the only people here…so…I think it's logical that I'm asking you."

"Logical?"

"Yeah." Then Vexen faded.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!"

"Then…" She took two steps forward. "Are you sure you aren't asking yourself?"

"Wha—" I could hear two more people fade behind her. I couldn't see who they were because I had my eyes on Xunakiy.

"Sometimes…the questions we ask…can only be answered ourselves." In-between her words, another two faded. "But I think this one can be figured out by both of us."

"Considering that everyone's fading, for no reason, and I can't enter that room…" Xunakiy took another few steps, so that she was right in front of me. "We're in a dream, right?"

"Yes…" She buried her head in my head, and I gave her a hug to try and comfort her.

After hearing the last one fade away, I saw a bright light flash through the hallway. Now we were in a field. The one I saw before going to the festival.

"When I get my heart back…" She began to cry. "Promise you'll meet up with me when you get yours back?"

"Of course I'll do that…because…" I took a deep breath. "Because I love you."

"You love me…"

"If I could, I would say with all my heart." She looked up and smiled.

"I-I…" Her smile faded. "I wish I could tell you…but…"

"But what?"

"It's too late."

* * *

I opened my eyes, and I was lying on the floor. I was in a room that was lighted by the moon, Kingdom Hearts. I was also holding something. When my eyes drifted down…I saw that I was holding a bloodstained sword. When I looked what was in front of me, I saw a pool of blood with no body.

"It…it couldn't be…"

"It's just what it looks like."

When I sat up, I looked over to my right. Xemnas.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't believe someone like you hasn't put the pieces together?" He curled his lips into a smile. "You were the one who killed her."

"I…I couldn't have—"

"After that heartless was killed off, Number XIV got her heart back, and you attacked her."

"I couldn't have done that…"

"But you did anyway."

"There's no way…"

"I'll say it again so you can get it through your thick head." He smiled. "You. Killed. Her."

That sentence hit me like a ton of bricks. Coming from anyone else, it would still hit me, but with Xemnas…those words echoed throughout my head. Those three words…

"As with some unforeseen circumstances, it seems your heart was somehow merged with hers and when you killed her, you got your heart back." He laughed, which of course, was disturbing, and traumatizing. "How does having your heart back feel like…Ienzo?"

"Horrible."

"I thought so."

"Why should I have my heart back…when she doesn't?"

"Because you killed her."

"SHUT UP!"

"Hmm?"

"I said…shut up…"

I started crying. It was sad. Having someone you love…being taken away from you…was sad. And with the person you hate…being there to take it and shove it in your face…made everything worse.

"You can't accept it?"

"I…can. I can accept it. But…I just want you to…"

"To what?"

"TO JUST SHUT THE HELL UP! I DON'T NEED ANYTHING FROM YOU OR ANYONE ELSE! I JUST WANT—"

Her.

"I get what you're trying to say to me." He slowly walked over to me, and then I was knocked out.

* * *

When I woke up again, I was in the castle dungeon. The dungeon was dark, so I couldn't see anything. When I tried to close my eyes again, I saw something with the color crimson red. I tried closing my eyes again, and found out that…the blood was still on my gloves.

"Blood?" Did that blood belong to her? I'm pretty sure I screamed after I figured that out. I took my gloves off and threw them against a far wall. But when I tried to close my eyes again, all I could see was blood.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENENING TO ME!?"

_Fate._

"Who's there!?"

_I'm just a simple voice that's talking to you. And like I said before, everything happens because of fate. But it's because of fate that you're hurting right now…_

"Yeah…" I sighed and calmed down. "Looks like we'll get to know each other because I think you're the only one I'll be talking to you for the rest of my rotten, crappy life." I thought about the voice, it wasn't anyone I knew, but…it sounded familiar.

_Sometimes things are always not so wonderful as they seem to be. Hurt by the things you thought would be wonderful. Knowing the facts, you hide yourself from the pain, and wish things would be undone. Left alone with nowhere else to run, you're reaching out for hope but you will realize you're left alone…_

"So you know how I feel then…"

I looked back on a lot of things. There was the time when she first joined, our date, and our promise.

"That was the promise I couldn't keep." I started crying again. "I'm such an idiot. Killing her is just the same as leaving her…"

_Sometimes we give each other promises, even when we know we can't hold them. We break these promises, and break each other because of it. The sad thing is that even if it's just a small promise that you break…it's bounded to our hearts and might effect us. Next time… maybe no one will trust you because… you broke that little promise from before._

"Are you trying to make me feel worse?"

_I'm trying to help._

"How?"

_Sometimes it's really hard to let go of things. You really don't want to let go but at the same time you want to change and let go, so you can keep on living your own life. should you let go of these things and transform into something new…or hold on to the past and create your new future._

"Like saying things that don't make any sense to an idiot like me is going to lift my spirits."

_I can take you to see her._

"Huh?"

_She's still alive due to my efforts. I can take you to see her._

"She's alive…"

_Yes. And I can take you to see her…at a price._

"Price?"

_I'm afraid I can't bring you to her without you giving that payment._

"Whatever it is…I'll give it to you."

_Why?_

"Because…all I want…is to see her. That idiot and her idiotic smile." I noticed that the voice didn't respond. "Are you still there?"

_Why did you call her an idiot?_

"I have my reasons…"

_So you want to see her? Okay._

Suddenly I felt something wrap around my limbs. I tried to struggle but then I realized that this was the voice's way of taking me to another world. It felt really weird, but then the darkness climbed upwards.

_It might take longer than you think, but you'll be alright. Submitting yourself to the darkness, just like someone else before you. You have a strong heart. Even without it, your strength showed. Heh. No wonder Yukina chose you._

I closed my eyes and I there was no longer a floor beneath me. Now I was just drifting in the darkness, which isn't as bad as it sounded.

_Now I'll take your price_.

"Wha—"

* * *

((There you have it. I know it's shorter than usual and it's CRAPPY. This chapter is shorter because I actually included two fighting scenes, but they were crappy, so I left the fighting scenes out. Don't hate me! I'll be posting the new fanfic's first chapter in about two weeks tops! Look forward to it! Please don't hate me for posting up such a crappy final chapter!))


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